Pete Hines apologizes for Fallout 76 beta download issue, says it won't be 'the last bump on the road'

During Bethesda's stream of the Fallout 76 beta on Tuesday (from Australia), Pete Hines was asked how the beta was going. "Ask a PC person how it's going today," he replied. "Not particularly fine."

Hines recapped the issues with the BethesdaNet launcher and the fact that many players had to re-download the entire beta a second time. "We definitely knew we were going to have issues and bumps," Hines said on the stream. "That was the whole point of it, is to try to find those things and flesh them out, but at the same time also give people a chance to experience the game and see it. And so, we've hit some problems that we quite honestly didn't expect."

Re-downloading the beta meant some players were late getting into the beta when it began, while others missed it entirely because they weren't able to complete the download during the four-hour beta window. In response, Bethesda extended the next scheduled beta to run a few extra hours.

"Apologies to anyone who had to download that stuff," said Hines. "But, you know, I'm here to tell you: it's not going to be the last bump on the road. And hopefully we continue to smooth those out, but that is in fact the whole point of doing this beta, is to find those things and see if we can't resolve them, while also letting people just have fun and enjoy the game."

The next Fallout 76 beta session is scheduled for Thursday, November 1, from 11 am - 8 pm PT / 2 pm - 11 pm ET. You can see the twitch video of Hines below, beginning at 15:30.

Christopher Livingston
Senior Editor

Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.

Latest in Fallout
Fallout 76 ghoul screenshots
Getting to level 50 in Fallout 76 to become a ghoul actually isn't as daunting as it seems, which is why I created a new character
Scorched person with their hands on their head
Ghoul players in Fallout 76 are starting to place their camps in the most radioactive areas of the map, and regular humans aren't happy: 'I had to inject 30+ radaway into my veins'
Fallout 76 ghoul screenshots
How to become a ghoul in Fallout 76
Ghoul in sunglasses
Some Fallout 76 players have encountered a 'major game-breaking bug' which either makes it impossible to complete the ghoul quest or just makes you temporarily invisible
A ghoul player character standing next to another ghoul
'You are hereby conscripted': Fallout 76 players demand newly-transformed ghoul players help them mine radioactive ore
Male and Female Vault Dweller holding guns and cresting a hill with ruined city in background
The New Vegas remake of the Fallout 3 that never was just got its first demo, not to be confused with the straight-up remake of the cancelled Fallout 3 or, indeed, Fallout 3
Latest in News
Shadow of Mordor's beloved nemesis system exists because the publisher threw a tantrum about second-hand sales
Silent Hill f transmission trailer screenshots
Silent Hill f is not messing around – now it's been banned in Australia
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 22: A view of Google Headquarters in Mountain View, California, United States on August 22, 2024.
'Google must divest the Chrome browser:' DOJ renews call for Google to sell Chrome, and Android could be next
Victory screen of Big Rigs showing infamous "You're Winner" message under a three-handle gold trophy
One of the worst games ever made is coming to Steam, but we won't know how cruel this joke is until we see the price tag
Sci-fi character from Dune
Dune: Awakening promises us a breath of fresh air, skipping early access for a full launch with no monthly subscription in May
Baldur's Gate 3 Karlach concept art
'The dream of the tech industry is to sell off your company at an overinflated price and retire,' says actor behind Baldur's Gate 3's Karlach, 'And I feel that's being done with game studios right now'