Bethesda cancels Fallout 76’s battle royale mode

Nuclear Winter, Fallout 76’s battle royale mode, is saying goodbye. The mode will be permanently removed in a September update, according to an official post by Bethesda. The mode simply hasn’t proved popular enough to justify its inclusion, the company said, and Bethesda will be prioritizing the game’s Adventure Mode.

This is proving somewhat of a controversial decision for a segment of the Fallout 76 playerbase, as Nuclear Winter was the only supported PvP game mode. Survival, a version of the game focused on open-world PvP in the game’s main map of Appalachia was also sunset in March of 2019.

Bethesda notes that a major part of its decision making process was the inability to quickly fill a lobby. “It has also become tougher to put full Nuclear Winter lobbies together without also making sacrifices on match wait times,” the post reads.

In the community post, Bethesda wrote:

We know that some of you are incredibly passionate about Nuclear Winter, and that you may find this news disappointing. Ending support for the mode was a difficult decision, and not one that we made lightly. We’re still working to provide methods of PVP combat for those who enjoy squaring off against other former Vault Dwellers, and a little later this year, we will release details on how we plan to offer players even more ways to play Fallout 76. Additionally, we’re going to compensate everyone who participated in Nuclear Winter, from those who only joined a single match to our most battle-hardened Overseers.

“I like NW, but you cant put zero effort into the game mode and expect it to retain playerbase,” wrote one player on the game’s subreddit. “The 2 maps are very old and now boring, there has not been any new or limited time rewards in a very long time, there is no rewards after level 100, hackers are still running rampant on PC, the goddamned guass shotgun is almost as bad as the hackers, CAMP building/blueprinting should be a way more viable play style.”

Even role-players have been struggling with the lack of PvP combat, as playing out an in-character battle is tough when the game’s systems don’t allow you to do so. It remains to be seen what Bethesda add to Fallout 76 for PvP combat, but players who participated in Nuclear Winter will earn in-game rewards to compensate them.