7 Video Game Developer Reputations That Died This Generation
1. Bethesda
Imagine going back in time and telling the version of yourself that was experiencing Morrowind, Oblivion, Fallout 3 or Skyrim, that at the close of the century, Bethesda would be one of the most money-hungry developers in the industry.
Because for as painful as it is to acknowledge, Bethesda have truly had a disastrous time of late, and besides Skyrim being unanimously beloved, a pretty naff generation.
As a publisher, they failed to advertise and secure sales for every single game that signed with them. Wolfenstein II and Youngblood, Dishonoured 2, The Evil Within 1 and 2. All failed to land sales-wise, and it's because of the braindead assumption that games don't need to be seen or detailed, until launch.
As a developer, things are even worse.
Besides Fallout 4 feeling like a reheated version of Fallout 3, with the exact same lockpicking minigames, an empty plot and terrible dialogue options, things would only get worse from then on in.
Fallout Shelter was a harmless enough mobile grind-fest, but Elder Scrolls: Blades is a watered down, soulless, on-rails take on an otherwise stellar formula, while Fallout 76 is straight up disastrous at this point.
Besides a launch window that involves false advertising, leading to what amounted to trash bags being given in place of a deluxe rucksack, the game was loaded with server-crashing bugs, and quests that ultimately revolved around fetch quests.
The latest example of pure tone deaf stupidity is Bethesda's decision to charge a monthly fee for things fans had been asking for. Private servers and larger item chests were locked behind this $100 A YEAR fee, but wait, there's more.
Turns out players that gave into this hokum were gifted with... more broken features. The item storechests apparently ate items and deleted them from saves, and NPCs were dead in all directions.
Bethesda used to be this scrappy developer that took massive risks and JUST made it through. We used to love them for the little bugs and glitches, because the bigger picture was glorious and worth championing.
Now? They're a shell of their former self, and a garbage pile of problems has completely obscured what used to be their most loveable qualities.