Despite the critical reception of Fallout 76, well-deserved criticism and lower than expected sales, abandoning the online Fallout prequel has never been an option, according to Bethesda’s Vice President of marketing, Pete Hines.

　　Bethesda has acknowledged that Fallout 76 has received some well-deserved criticism from the community, and during the company’s 2019 E3 press conference, studio director Todd Howard has talked openly about the game’s failures. New content and features have been promised, including a brand-new battle-royale mode.

　　Talking to Gamesindustry.biz, Bethesda’s Pete Hines talked about Bethesda’s misstep with the game, and how, in some way, the studio’s reputation might have been at stake.

　　"It's just in our DNA," Hines said when asked about keeping going with Fallout 76.

　　"I appreciate there might be folks who are tempted to throw up their hands and [call it quits], but that's just not how we're wired. We believed in it. The fact that it didn't go the way we expected and it had issues that maybe we should have foreseen and should have planned for doesn't mean we didn't believe in what the game was and could become."

　　Bethesda’s VP of marketing added that there’s also an element of pride by not throwing in the towel.

　　"For sure, that had some amount to do with it," Hines replied when asked about the brand’s reputation. "BGS is a team that's made a lot of very highly successful things. Still, in my opinion, they are one of the most respected and decorated studios in the world. There is an element of pride -- not in a 'we don't quit and give up' way, but we need to show and prove that we are going to stick with it, and that we don't just hit some adversity and throw up our hands and go, 'Oh this is too hard, let's do something else.' That's not how we think about things, either as a publisher or as a studio."

　　Fallout 76 is available globally now for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The game’s massive upcoming Wastelanders update, which includes the all-new Battle-Royale mode, is slated for a release for all players later this year.