The $200 Power Armor edition of Fallout 76 promised fans a load of stuff, including what looked like a very nice canvas bag. Which they didn’t end up getting, because between announcing the bundle and shipping it Bethesda pulled a lil’ switcheroo.
Update - 5am, 11/29/18: Bethesda has responded, saying “we are sorry”.
Original story follows: Up top is the military-style canvas bag as it was promised (and as it’s still advertised on sites like Amazon):
And here’s what has been sent out to fans:
Oh dear.
Cost and production issues happen all the time with collector’s editions, ranging from things breaking to figures not turning out as expected to components straight up disappearing.
What’s causing problems here—and lots of people are very unhappy about this—is probably two things. The first is that this game itself isn’t very good, which would compound a lot of folk’s disappointment.
Second, though, is Bethesda’s response. Fans complaining about the switch are getting responses like this:
So Bethesda knew they were changing the bag, said nothing, offered nothing, released the game, and now that fans are complaining that they aren’t getting what was advertised and what they paid for, are getting an email that literally says “we hope this doesn’t prevent you from enjoying what we feel is one of our best collector’s editions”.
That’s on top of the fact that the Power Armor edition of the game was delayed, to the point where Bethesda had to email out codes for customers so they could get playing the game while they waited for their giant boxes to arrive.
Update 2- 5:05am, 11/29/18: In addition to the Twitter statement and support email above, Bethesda has also responded to critics of the move on Reddit, posting:
The Bethesda Store’s Support member is a temporary contract employee and not directly employed by Bethesda or Bethesda Game Studios. We apologize to the customer who took the time to reach out. The support response was incorrect and not in accordance with our conduct policy. Unfortunately, due to unavailability of materials, we had to switch to a nylon carrying case in the Fallout 76: Power Armor Edition. We hope this doesn’t prevent anyone from enjoying what we feel is one of our best collector’s editions.
Mostly the same as the email reply, then, only now someone’s getting thrown under the bus.
Update 3 - 6:30pm, 11/29/18: