Bethesda Game Studios has announced that it will be terminating play for Fallout 76’s Nuclear Winter battle royale mode in September, as it looks to increase support for other game modes in the multiplayer Fallout title.
Per the latest Inside the Vault blog, the reasoning for the decision to shut down Nuclear Winter mainly comes from the mode seemingly losing players over time as they preferred to explore other game modes. The full statement from Bethesda is below:
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“When we first introduced Nuclear Winter, we were thrilled to watch so many players from our community, as well as many newcomers, dive head first into our take on the ruthless last-player-standing Battle Royale genre. Over time, however, we’ve seen the vast majority of players prefer to explore other aspects of the game. It has also become tougher to put full Nuclear Winter lobbies together without also making sacrifices on match wait times.
“Additionally, we’ve found it challenging to provide meaningful updates for Nuclear Winter, while also developing and supporting exciting new content for Adventure Mode in recent and upcoming updates. With all of this in mind, we are currently planning to sunset Nuclear Winter Mode in an update coming this September.”
Whilst this news will obviously be disappointing for those players that enjoyed the Nuclear Winter mode in the game, Bethesda did also tease new game modes that might replace Nuclear Winter that will be announced, “a little later this year, we will release details on how we plan to offer players even more ways to play Fallout 76”.
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Veteran players of the Nuclear Winter mode won’t lose out entirely though, as they will find themselves rewarded through in-game items like Perk Coins: “When Nuclear Winter goes offline, we’re going to fill your characters’ pockets with Perk Coins, which can be used to upgrade your Legendary Perks in Adventure Mode. Each character will receive 6 Perk Coins per Overseer Rank they achieved, up to a maximum of 600, as well as 1 Perk Coin for each Overseer Ticket they earned, up to a max of 200. All players who completed at least one Nuclear Winter match will also receive a Nuclear Winter themed Pennant for their C.A.M.P.s”.
Fallout 76 has suffered a rocky development process, launching with ample bugs and technical problems, and added a ludicrous subscription service, but has still retained a dedicated player base. Yet despite the closure of the Nuclear Winter mode in September, Bethesda has made it clear in this blog that they plan to continue to support Fallout 76 for many years to come. It’s worth remembering that Bethesda will be part of Microsoft’s E3 show, so we might hear some more of what’s coming up for Fallout 76 at that conference. For all the latest news on all things E3, stay tuned to IGN.
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Liam Wiseman is a Freelance News Writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @liamthewiseman