Bethesda Promised Refund On Fallout 76, Then Bailed Out The Next Day

One of many disappointed Fallout 76 players contacted Bethesda for a refund on the catastrophic game. Although Bethesda promised a refund, they bailed out the next day with an unconvincing excuse.

[italiangamer]

Scumbags, what a bunch of POS.

[Eonjay]

You just gotta shut the hell up and give them your money /s

[Goldenhawk521]

Why was Scofio's comment marked as "innapropriate"? Innapropriate for who?

[Eonjay]

Because even though we know that Phil and Todd are literally best friends (steady boyfriends in the gaming universe really) and even though Todd went to war with Sony on Phil's behalf while Phil paid millions to market Todds POS 76, we have to pretend. Anything else is inappropriate.

[badz149]

I'm loving every single moment of this FO76 saga so far. Bethesda's reputation and image as a company are nosediving as quickly or faster than the price of the game itself and I AM ABSOLUTELY LOVING IT!

remember when Todd Howard was the champion of the "gamers" because he was brave to call out Sony on cross-play only to be proven that they themselves had no intention to do it on FO76 - an online-only game?? THAT was not that long ago but now HAHAHAHA I guess Sony is laughing hard at this asshole of a company.

Screw you scumbag Bugthesda!

[jaymacx]

well I agree with what you said mostly, I however don't think Sony is happy when a big 3rd party game bombs on their platform. They make money on sales of these games.

[sander9702]

This game was all about making money from day 1, they tried to f- us all over with this fraud and it failed miserably.
Bethesda has lost A LOT of my respect and I already lost a lot after Fallout 4 so now I'm down to about zero respect for them.
The worst part is that Fallout 76 is the cut multiplayer from Fallout 4 that they only decided to bring it back from the dead so they didn't have to make a real game until next-gen, Fallout 76 is an asset flip in other words.

[ChrisW]

Fake! Fake! Fake!!!

[trooper_]

Agreed. Hope this company goes out of business. Treating your customers like dirt is a crap move.

[2pacalypsenow]

“Thank you for contacting the Bethesda Support Team. Customers who have downloaded the game are not eligible for a refund. We apologize for the inconvenience. If there is anything else we can assist you with please reply to this email for further assistance. Thank you for your patience“

“Digital is the future”

[AspiringProGenji]

But but I don’t want to stand up and insert any disc. It’s too much energy

[UltraAtomic]

That and game sharing 😁

[Dragonscale]

@xbi, they have a point actually. An all digital future would be a nightmare fgs.

[TargusX]

Spot on! :D

[DarkOcelet]

I am pretty sure that is the reason they didn't put it on Steam. Cause most people would have refunded it before the 2 hour mark. Scummy bethesda

[jaymacx]

they cant say because of piracy LOL.. Its Online only!

[rpgenius420]

You can get a refund on xbox within the 2 hours too.

[King_Noctis]

So let me get this straight, your blame the whole digital future just because one company acts like a POS?

[ShadowWolf712]

"One Company"
>ignores plethora of examples of scumbaggery re: digital-only purchases

[2pacalypsenow]

A lot of comapanies don’t take any returns on digital games.

[Servbot41]

Pretty sure they have to offer refunds in the EU. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[WilliamSheridan]

Xbox one gives you the option of digital refund as long as you played less than 2 hours

[pinkcrocodile75]

So what are you saying? That ALL digital game vendors have done this and by this we don't even know yet as they could be automated response emails.

First lets get all the facts, then if this IS correct, lets not use the same brush to tar all vendors the same in your attempts to bolster a horseh!t argument against digital media.

[SirenAries]

The future should be gamers who are smart enough not to download or purchase anything before reviews come out. Reviews are there to protect the customer . These customers got what they deserved because they know the policy. that's their fault. but that's clearly asking too much from these people to actually take Responsibility for their choice in purchasing a game without seeing reviews , let alone downloading the damn thing.

[cell989]

Which is why I’ll save digital downloads for small titles and physical copies of full priced games

[UCForce]

What a bunch of liar and hypocrites !

[ChrisW]

Falling for fake news? Yup!

[Eonjay]

How is this fake? Is Bethesda really issuing refunds?

[Bleucrunch]

Stay out of grown folk business @ChrisW there is nothing fake about a subpar game being released at full price and consumers not very happy about it.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Scumbags

[ChrisW]

It's a conspiracy... Nothing but fake news!

[Chexs1990]

You working for Bethesda?
Right now it's more or less universally agreed upon, that Bethesda made a s**t game, wanting to cash in without much effort.

And I'm a longtime ES fan, with an inkling of love towards the fallout games as well. This whole F76 theater is just sad for both the company and the gamers who expected better from aforementioned company.

[MasterCornholio]

“Greetings!

Thank you for contacting the Bethesda Customer Support Team.

Unfortunately, we do not have the ability to begin processing that refund for you right at this moment. There is nothing to worry about though. We’ll begin processing the refund as soon as we can and we’ll reach back out to you via email to let you know once we’ve started that process."

Responce

“Greetings,

Thank you for contacting the Bethesda Support Team. Customers who have downloaded the game are not eligible for a refund. We apologize for the inconvenience. If there is anything else we can assist you with please reply to this email for further assistance. Thank you for your patience

The first email could have been a mistake but regardless given how broken the game is the correct thing for them to do is to issue refunds to those who desire it.

[EazyC]

I'm really glad they're getting the backlash, they really deserve it for seriously believing they could pedal this pile of dung on consumers... and I don't just mean the game itself!

[FallenAngel1984]

Lmao what assholes

[PhoenixUp]

Dirtbag companies, dirtbag companies never change

[XxINFERNUSxX]

If it was possible I would torrent this game out of spite and not play it lol. To make up for this I already torrented Fallout 3, New Vegas, Fallout 4, Skyrim and every DLC for all of them :D I win.

[william_cade]

The 76 trailer looked awesome and it was free lol

[FlameWater]

Don't buy a game because of the trailer XD

[william_cade]

XD Same with OverKill's The Walking Dead. An awesome and free trailer, but a sucky and expensive game.

[BlackTar187]

Wish The walking dead game was awesome. Not a fan of the show after Season 3 fail but still love the idea.

[Godmars290]

More than kind of hows their true colors: profit over entertainment value.

Repeatedly they've released sub-par games, games not just with massive bugs but ones easily fixed by the fan community, and now backtracking on a just made refund promise.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

Videos games are the only media where selling a broken or semi-broken product is acceptable. There should be legislation that prevent publishers from releasing their games in an intentionally poor state.

[BlaqMagiq1]

This is scumbaggery at its finest but at the same time people should've seen this coming weeks before launch. People should be refunded but they already have your money and don't have to refund. Let this be a lesson learned.

[FunAndGun]

Buyer Beware

[salmonade]

Bethesda DESERVE to be burned at the stake... industry-wise. Time to be covered in internet gaming criticism of everything they do. They've avoided so much of it for so long.

[Tze_Viper]

Bethesda are scumbags. But anyone who was dumb enough to buy this game doesnt deserve a refund lol. We all saw this coming

[rpgenius420]

Actually on xbox you can get a refund for any game played less than 2 hours no problem, just like steam.

[AK91]

No surprises here.

[Profchaos]

If you're Australian your consumer rights still over ride any policy that Bethesda tries to block a refund since they delivered a defective product.

[FlameWater]

Bethesda makes the best snake oil in the business.

[Dragonscale]

Whats up bethesda, trying to take the scummiest publisher award from ea? You're certainly getting there.

[Dspdspes]

Lol. Activision just wants a word here....

[Gwiz]

Did they just tell them a https://www.youtube.com/wat...
Updated version from Crowbcat :D

[HawkLee]

I am not sure what's next Bethesda gonna do, but insult a company inappropriately is really unbearable...

[TargusX]

I never try to buy Digital. But if I do, it's via DRM Free - gog.com, who always honor refund for games.
Bethesda has lost the plot.

[windblowsagain]

Everyone knew it was a mess from the Beta. You know what Bethesda are like. Why buy it.

Its like buying a burger you know that tastes like shit, but you buy it anyway.

[81BX]

I bet tre is breathing a sigh of relief. Their piece of crap black ops 4 is being over shadowed by fallout. Sad really because both should stand on the carpet before the man!

[Artemidorus]

Boycott these morons don't be tempted by the next lie.

[rpgenius420]

If you played less than 2 hours MS will refund no problem.

[howiewowwee]

this is what happens when successful companies forget how and why they became successful = us!!

[BioShockGX]

Anyone who's buying this trash doesn't deserve a refund lol lol lol

[Solo_88]

They didn't have the ability at the time to process the refund but had the ability to process your payment. Sounds about right.

[FernDiggidy]

SMFH...Pieces of Sh!t

[jmtstan]

this reminds me of Mad Game Tycoon, when I develop a game engine, and the game becomes hit, I try develop a sequel with bunch of improvement on the same engine. I thought it was a hit, but review bombed, sales slow, I got no choice but to shelve the franchise and start new one.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

The only truly good thing that Fallout 76 has done, so far, is that it used its intro commercial to reintroduce the classic song "Take Me Home, Country Roads" to a new generation, while reminding long-time fans of it about just how good the song is.

[The7Reaper]

Bethesda is getting so much deserved heat... Until Elder Scrolls 6 comes out and everyone forgets how scummy they are just tosses their money at them because people never learn.

[aarogree]

And here I was considering buying a Bethesda game or two during Cyber Monday.

[ccgr]

Shameful...

[Critic4l_Strik3]

I didn't buy the game but, would it be possible that if they refuse to give a refund, to dispute the purchase through my bank? Or no?

[rainslacker]

It could be if you paid with a CC, as that's a requirement by the credit card companies. A retailer is required to accept that the customer can claim a refund through the CC company. But it could then be reversed again down the line as the retailer can dispute it, although, from my experience, the CC company is more interested in keeping their customer happy, than the retailer, so its a pain for the retailer to actually dispute.

If one brought it on the consoles, I'd suggest not doing this though, as it pretty much means an automatic block on your account, as they flag it as a hacked account. Sony is particularly fickle about this. MS has a better process if you haven't played that much. Steam will block as well, although it is possible to unblock. If you make a claim through the CC company, you're also taking away from the platform holder or digital storefront, and they aren't really responsible for the quality of the game, and they'll still end up having to pay Bethesda their cut. But if you brought it digital through Bethesda directly, then Bethesda would lose the money, at least until they likely win the appeal, which is typically automated for digital purchases.

The problem with digital products on this CC dispute thing is that there is no real product to return. The impetus of the dispute has to be that the product or service wasn't delivered, but in this case, the product was delivered, and that's really all that the retailer has to prove. The quality of the product isn't supposed to be a consdieration and you aren't supposed to be allowed to just dispute a charge because of that. Otherwise, the system would be abused too much....and its already abused quite a bit. I've had disputes for my business and it actually hurts me because I don't have high profit margins. I only win about half of the appeals, so some people do get free stuff that I paid money for.

[Critic4l_Strik3]

Oh wow, thanks for the detailed response!