Fallout 76 PS4 PlayStation

Microsoft boss Phil Spencer thought about pulling support for Fallout 76 back when the platform holder acquired developer Bethesda as part of the larger purchase of parent company ZeniMax. In a revealing email, Spencer suggested that if the game couldn't manage 10 million monthly average users (a number it would ultimately surpass), a decision should be made to "move on from it".

Yet another treasure from the trove of documents leaked during the course of the Microsoft v. FTC court case, TheGamer spotted this one, which can be viewed in full below.

2018's Fallout 76 was released with a whimper, an abysmal offering we favoured with a 3/10. To its credit (or shame), Bethesda kept at it, and around the time of the Wastelanders update in 2020, the game was in a much better place, thanks to a steady stream of free updates. News of ZeniMax's acquisition came a few months later, in September, and the below email is dated a year after that, 1st September 2021.

In the email, Spencer expresses distaste at bringing Microsoft Games to Sony's PS Now service, which was seen as a competitor to Xbox's Game Pass. But, if it meant boosting player numbers beyond the 10 million monthly active user threshold, then it was a price worth paying. Fallout 76 would come to PS Now the following month before ultimately being subsumed by PS Plus, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Phil Spencer Fallout 76

What do you think about Fallout 76's near brush with oblivion? Are you surprised that the black sheep of the Bethesda family is still around, considering the state it launched in? Equip a hazmat suit before venturing into the comments section below.

[source thegamer.com, via playstationlifestyle.net]