Someone's Trying to Sue Bethesda over Fallout 76

It’s no doubt that people’s reactions to Bethesda’s Fallout 76 can be called… “mixed”, at best. Between the bugs, the sparse world, and the bugs (there are a lot), there are no shortage of people who are calling this the worst thing ever (or at least, the worst Fallout game by a wide margin). But I would have never imagined that there would be people who were so offended by the awfulness of the game that they would take Bethesda to court over it… or that they might even have a credible case.

And yet, here we are.

The law firm Migliaccio & Rathod LLP is currently in the process of investigating and preparing for a possible class-action Lawsuit against Bethesda for Fallout 76. While they cite the many, many bugs in the game as a problem point, the main reason why they think they have a case is because of the lack of a proper return policy. Because Fallout 76 is hosted on Bethesda’s client rather than Steam, that means they get to adhere to their own, personal return policy: which is none at all. So despite many, many people asking for their money back, Bethesda has no obligation to offer a refund, and thus far, has shown no interest in doing so.

While minor bugs and glitches are expected with the release of most new games, Fallout 76 launched with a 56GB patch that has proven to be but a starting point for the game’s problems. Gamers who have tried to receive a refund because of the game’s myriad glitches have been unable to do so since they downloaded the game, leaving them to deal with an unplayable experience until patches bring it back to a playable state.

This is a far cry from the first time someone has tried to sue a developer over a buggy game, but to the best of my knowledge, they’ve never ended well for the accuser. The lack of a return policy might give the law firm a bit of an edge this time, but since users likely had to agree to the terms and conditions of the service before they bought anything, well… there’s probably not that much that can really be done.

But if it’s any consolation to current Fallout 75 owners, maybe Bethesda will pull a Hello Games and slowly make the game better? A gamer can dream, at least.