Bethesda's games are some of the most beloved of all time, and one of the most memorable parts of its games are the shocking and often-times hilarious bugs that pop up. While Prime Video's Fallout series won't feature a nod to them in its first season, there is still hope for the future.
Speaking during a roundtable interview at CCXP, executive producer and show runner Graham Wagner explained why we won't yet see some fourth wall-breaking nods to the bugs of Bethesda's past.
Congratulations! You’re now watching the FALLOUT teaser trailer. Arriving April 12 on @primevideo. pic.twitter.com/WUIFiMMpFh
— FALLOUT⚡️ (@falloutonprime) December 2, 2023
"I mean, I don't want to throw Bethesda under the bus and talk about glitches too much, but we didn't really want to... what I kind of call meta humor... there's no save game, there's no meta elements like that," Wagner said. "We talked about it a great deal because one of my fondest memories playing [The Elder Scrolls II:] Daggerfall is a moment where I just bumped into the wall and fell off the map and watched the entire world fly away from me as I fell off. And it was just transcendental and wonderful.
"And I was like, can we get this in the show? And not in the first season, but it's definitely on my mind as a concept. But yeah, we stayed clear of too many winks, too many, because like I said earlier, we really just want people to buy into this world and not sort of be pushed out of it, because a tall order. It's a pretty crazy place and we just want to get people invested in that first and before we f*** with it too much."
Bethesda's games are filled to the brim with so much freedom and things to do that it's nearly impossible to squash all the bugs that find their way into them. Starfield, Bethesda's latest title, has fewer bugs than any other of its games, but a few hilarious ones have still found their way into the spacefaring game.
Bethesda's previous head of global publishing Pete Hines spoke about these bugs, and said that the team loves to "embrace chaos."
"We embrace chaos," Hines said. "We could make a safer, less buggy, less risky game if we wanted to. But what we try to lean into is player freedom.
"Yes, there's going to be some little things here and there where your companion might stand a little too close to you sometimes. Yet the freedom you get, and the things that happen because of that, we absolutely love and embrace.
"Of course there are bugs. But does it take away from your experience? Or do you have a consistent, fun game that you just can't stop playing and experimenting with?"
Fallout will premiere in 2024 and it will have at least one bug as we saw a massive radiated cockroach in its first trailer.
For more, check out how the Fallout show's creators envision this project as a "Fallout 5" and more images and details of the show.
Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
