Pete Hines, head of communications for Bethesda, explains that they decided to delay the game so as not to make the same mistakes of the past.
A failed launch can mean a lunge of death for a video game, even when a large company is behind. In the case of Fallout 76, the title was met with bad reviews from the press and from players. It was criticized for the lack of content and the multiple bugs it had when it was originally released. Pete Hines, CEO of Bethesda’s Marketing and Communications Department, admitted in an interview with US Gamer that they learned an important lesson. So they decided to delay DOOM Eternal and Fallout 76: Wastelanders until they were truly ready.
“We said: ‘These are not ready, we are not going to make another mistake and we are going to use extra time even if that time hurts, even if we miss Christmas.” This is what happened with DOOM Eternal, which was scheduled for the end of 2019, but finally went to March 2020, just when Animal Crossing: New Horizons saw the light of day. “DOOM Eternal has been so much better for that.” Wastelanders, the great free expansion for Fallout 76, also suffered such a delay. The coronavirus virus, which lasted only a few days, had nothing to do with the quality of the product.
Fixing the messes
Fallout 76 has been a headache for Bethesda. Despite everything, the company has not stopped in its efforts to continue fixing the product through new updates. Wastelanders is the expansion that introduces many of the demands of the players. That is, richer story content and NPCs with which to interact and perform missions. As for DOOM Eternal, id Software’s work garnered good reviews and is still awaiting its arrival on Nintendo Switch, whose adaptation is in the hands of Panic Button.
DOOM Eternal is available on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Stadia, just like Fallout 76. All in all, Bethesda’s multiplayer game is not announced for Nintendo Switch.
