Fallout 76 Day One Patch Is Larger Than The Game Itself, A Ridiculous 54GB
Bethesda is getting ready to release Fallout 76 to the general public, and when it arrives, it will come with a hefty day-one patch. How hefty? Try a staggering 54 gigabytes. That is on top of the 45GB base installation, which means the day-of-release patch is actually bigger than the initial install. Welcome to the modern era of gaming, folks.
This is applicable to the PlayStation 4 version of Fallout 76—it's not clear if the Xbox One and PC platforms will also have a massive day-one patch, though if we had to put money on a guess, we'd go all-in on 'yes'. As for the PS4, the total space that is required with the base install and patch comes to 96.6GB.
While the patch is rather big—stinks for anyone with slow or congested internet service—it should go a long way towards stomping out bugs discovered during the beta session. Bethesda talked about this in a recent thread on Reddit, noting some of the issues that it plans to fix. Specifically, Bethesda identified the following:
- Ultra-Wide Support: We will support 21:9 post launch. Once available, or shortly before, we’ll be sure to post our patch notes that let you know when to expect it.
- Larger Stash Size: We’ve seen this one come up a lot and understand the frustration. While the Stash size at 400 weight limit can get easier to deal with over time, we do plan on increasing it in the future.
- Push-to-Talk [UPDATED]: While we aim to create a consistent experience no matter what platform you’re on, we understand that some of you on PC would like the option for Push-to-Talk. Our goal with voice chat being on by default is to highlight that the world is alive with real people, other players like you. We like to start with encouraging player interaction and will
look into adding this in the futurebe adding this in the near future.- FOV Slider: We haven’t supported FOV sliders in our previous games as it is known to break a lot of animations and causes a lot of clipping to occur onscreen. You do have the option to zoom out in third person on PC by holding View and moving the mousewheel, but we won’t be able to have it for first person view.
- Exploits of Various Types: Many exploits we’ve seen reported have been known and will be addressed in a future update.
- Issues with social menu and inviting friends/making teams/etc.: Those who were experiencing issues with the social components will find that many of these issues have been fixed. We will continue to fix issues as they arise as fast as we’re able to, so keep letting us know when you run into them.
- Hunger not being sated: Some were saying their “Hunger bar” wouldn’t replenish no matter how much they ate or how cleared of diseases they were. This issue has been addressed and will be in a future update so no more hungry dwellers.
- Loud Gunshot/Noises: The issue of players hearing sudden random gunshot/loud sounds around Appalachia will be addressed in a future update near launch.
It remains to be seen how many of those things, if any, will make it into the initial patch. Separately, Bethesda's Pete Hines stated in an interview with GameSpot that the plan is to support Fallout 76 "forever." He compared Fallout 76 to World of Warcraft, an online-only game that has been up and running for 14 years. Likewise, Bethesda wants support for Fallout 76 to be "never-ending."
That will depend on player interest, of course, which Hines later acknowledged. Fallout 76 is the ninth game in the popular Fallout franchise, the first online multiplayer game. That's true not just of the Fallout series, but also for Bethesda—the game studio has strictly focused on single-player games to this point as a first-party developer (The Elder Scrolls Online was developed by ZeniMax Online Studios).
Fallout 76 releases to PS4, Xbox One, and Windows PCs on November 14, 2018 (this coming Wednesday).
EDIT: An earlier version of this article stated that Bethesda has strictly focused on single-player games to this point. This statement has been clarified to reflect Bethesda as a game developer, not a publisher. Bethesda published The Elder Scrolls Online, a multiplayer game developed by ZeniMax Online Studios.
Update, 1:02 PM ET, 11/14/18 - The release of Fallout 76 has been met with widespread negative reviews on Metacritic, with most gamers feeling the new Bethesda title feels and plays too much like Fallout 4.
Update, 1:02 PM ET, 11/14/18 - The release of Fallout 76 has been met with widespread negative reviews on Metacritic, with most gamers feeling the new Bethesda title feels and plays too much like Fallout 4.
