BethesdaI have officially now written more articles about retailers trying to shift leftover copies of Fallout 76 than I ever expected I would have to, but such is the way of the world.
A few weeks back it was reported that a number of German retailers were giving away copies of Bethesda’s ill fated online multiplayer with pretty much anything, including used controllers and hard drives.
Now, it seems Polish retailer X-Kom is throwing in copies of Fallout 76 with $5/£4 PS4 Thumbsticks as part of a limited time promotion.
Once again, I must point out that Fallout 76 launched in November, so giving it away for a quid more than a Meal Deal so soon after release isn’t the best sign. Of course, it’s not really a secret that the game went down like a lead balloon full of knives and poo.
Redditor u/Zupa84PL grabbed a screenshot of the now timed-out promo while it was still live (via VG247). You can see that just below
u/Zupa84PLA few weeks ago Mordecay1986 on Reddit (who works at German retailer Saturn), said that Fallout 76 is currently being bundled with “every Xbox, PS4, PS4 hard drive from Seagate, DualShock controller, a few third party controllers and the original Xbox controllers.”
They added that this is pretty much the deal, “even if you don’t want it”, and that the reaction of customers when forcing an unwanted copy of Fallout 76 on them can be pretty funny.
Bethesda’s parent company ZeniMax Media apparently often “oversells” to stores, hence the extra stock. It reportedly compensates retailers for every copy of Fallout 76 sold because it’s easier than refunding the surplus, hence this deluge of deals and bundles to try and shift the game.
BethesdaIn my own review, I said that Fallout 76 is an “aggressively average multiplayer survival game”, and that while the idea does have potential, it’s not worth a look at the moment.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.