There were interesting things shown off at QuakeCon this year for Bethesda’s Fallout 76 from a new perk system, to PvP – and even nukes and how to protect yourself from them. However the announcement that the upcoming beta would only be available through Bethesda’s official website rather than Steam stuck out to some in not the most positive way.

Bypassing Steam does have its advantages. For instance, it allows the developers to forgo the need for a “middleman” and gives them a chance to serve the playerbase directly. VP Pete Hines explained in an interview that in the past working with a third party has caused some issues. Keeping the game “in-house,” so to speak, allows the developers to know exactly where the blame lies and lets them access all the information necessary to make the proper changes within the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEUOzXVLtO8&t=56s

That being said, Fallout 76 won’t begin a trend of Bethesda not releasing games onto Steam. Hines explains that this particular title that will be available exclusively on Bethesda’s webpage, however that doesn’t mean “all future Bethesda game will not be on Steam.” This does raise some questions as to whether or not the upcoming DOOM Eternal will be seen on Steam or not. Hines mentioned that as well:

We haven’t decided on anything else, this is specific to Fallout 76 given the kind of game it is — it’s an online, ongoing game. [Doom Eternal] may or may not, but it hasn’t been decided on anything else yet.”

Lastly, Hines mentioned that while initially Fallout 76 will not be available on Steam it is a possibility that it might arrive at a later date. However, he did make it clear that there is no guarantee as to whether it would or not. The beta test for Fallout 76 will arrive sometime in October while the full game will release on November 14th.

Will you be entering the world of Fallout 76 for yourself? Let us know your thoughts on Fallout 76 and more in the comments section below. As always, don’t forget to follow Don’t Feed the Gamers on Twitter for 24/7 coverage of all things gaming and entertainment.