10 Ingenious Ways Players Beat Video Game Microtransactions
3. Letting Bethesda Accidentally Send Free Currency - Fallout 76
If all else fails, simply let a game publisher royally screw things up and just... send you a ton of free currency by mistake.
That's what happened with the oft-beleaguered Fallout 76, which last summer encountered a glitch where players were randomly sent hefty amounts of Atoms, the in-game currency which can be bought with real cash.
Players reported received as much as 50,000 Atoms, which if you opened your wallet would amount to a $500 spend.
Given that Bethesda received intense criticism for the price of items in the Atomic Shop when the game launched in 2018, the feeling of schadenfreude is real.
Bethesda of course suggested that players shouldn't spend the ill-gained money, adding that anyone who did so risked being banned from the game altogether.
Though Bethesda seemingly patched the glitch quickly enough, there don't seem to be any reports of players being banned for spending the loot, which would've been a terrible look for a game that's still trying to shake the stink of its disastrous launch all these years later.