The Hype Stuff: How Game Developers Can Learn from Bethesda and Fallout 4

Written by: Adam "ManKorn" Korenman, CC2K Video Games Editor

1) Make it About Fans

Bethesda loves its fans, as is evident by the love and care applied to the development of this latest sequel. They listen to complaints and peruse forums, searching for ways to make bigger, better games for the people who play them.

Look no further than the abysmal launch of Ubisoft’s latest titles to see how well lip-service pays off. Gamers don’t just want a bucket of content dumped on top of a lackluster story. We don’t need a million side-quests that all revolve around the same three minigames. We don’t want a map chock-full of icons and madness. We want to discover our world organically, through the pacing of the story or our own curiosity. We don’t need our story spoon-fed to us through liberal cutscenes. We can learn by doing, and through appropriate dialogue. 

Bethesda has set out to create an ambitious follow-up to their hit series, and all evidence points toward a looming success. There are still hurdles ahead, no doubt. Fallout has a tendency to paint female characters…well, as poorly as just about every other video game out there. Some of the karma choices are a little too black and white to be interesting. And there are still naysayers who think this looks too last gen. 

For my part, I am excited to return to the nuclear wasteland, to listen to old radio stations, to combat giant fire ants in the Thunderdome.

I just hope other companies can learn from Bethesda’s battle strategy.