Before Fallout 76 launched, the $200 Power Armor Edition of the game looked like a solid investment for any hardcore Fallout fan. You got a wearable T-51B Power Armor Helmet, a glow-in-the-dark map, collectible Fallout figurines, and most importantly, a “Canvas West Tek Duffel Bag”. The images used to advertise the contents of the Power Armor Edition make it look like a sturdy, durable bag. But that’s not the case.
Recipients of the Power Armor Edition who just received their purchase have discovered that the advertised “canvas duffel bag” is actually made of a much cheaper nylon material. Originally posted by /u/Fethennour to the /r/gaming subreddit, it highlights the poor quality of the bag with the T-51B Power Armor Helmet inside.
In a support ticket they sent to the Bethesda Gear Helpdesk, they wrote: “The bag included with the Fallout 76 Power Armor edition isn’t correct. The bag is advertised as being canvas but it is clearly a much cheaper nylon material that doesn’t look at all like the bag in the promotional material for the collector’s edition. What are you planning to do about this?”
You’d expect Bethesda’s response to be an apology and an offer for a refund, along with perhaps some compensation, but that isn’t how Bethesda does things apparently. “Hello, We are sorry that you aren’t happy with the bag,” the reply begins. “The bag shown in the media was a prototype and was too expensive to make. We aren’t planning on doing anything about it.”
It’s a blunt and to the point reply, one that doesn’t help the customer in any way. Bethesda’s official customer support account on Reddit came out and explained that they’ve made an official statement on the matter:
“The Bethesda Store's Support member is a temporary contract employee and not directly employed by Bethesda or Bethesda Game Studios. We apologize to the customer who took the time to reach out. The support response was incorrect and not in accordance with our conduct policy. Unfortunately, due to unavailability of materials, we had to switch to a nylon carrying case in the Fallout 76: Power Armor Edition. We hope this doesn’t prevent anyone from enjoying what we feel is one of our best collector’s editions."
They went on to add that they’re offering 500 Atoms to anyone who purchased the Power Armor Edition. This is the monetary equivalent of $5 and can be used in-game to buy cosmetics and emotes. It goes without saying that it’s not very much at all. In fact, the Postman costume that comes with an actual canvas bag costs 700 Atoms so players can’t even get a virtual one of what they ordered. They can buy some flowers and a colored door for that price though, which is nice, right?
The backlash surrounding this has been huge and at the time of writing, the Fallout 76 Power Armor Edition is still for sale on Amazon and the canvas duffel bag still features prominently in the marketing. Keep your eyes peeled for any future updates surrounding this, as Bethesda dig themselves into an even deeper hole.
Header image courtesy of Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
