Fallout 76 Confusingly Appears On Microsoft Store For Pre-Order

Confusing Information Surrounds Fallout 76 Release

Fallout 76 is shortly coming up for release. Well, if you consider a few months shortly. Bethesda has been pushing the news, images and videos out for the game series quite significantly since it was revealed back in June. Aside from the multiplayer aspects, which I’m still not certain has convinced all fans of the series, one of the biggest stories to break to date was that Bethesda was going to release the game exclusively on its own Bethesda.net platform. Put simply, this game wasn’t going to be released on Steam.

In a somewhat confusing and contradictory position though, Fallout 76 has appeared for pre-order on the Microsoft Store.

This Does Not Make Sense

The link above is still active, however, only works from the US version of the store. If you visit from the  UK or Europe, users will not find this game available. This is, however, incredibly confusing. Bethesda made it clear that they were not releasing the game on Steam because they wanted to have direct control over the online aspects of the game. Specifically via their own game app. As such, how can Microsoft be selling this via the store? This simply does not make sense!

Is It A Mistake?

Some of you might just be thinking that this is a simple error. Everything about it though just seems a little too detailed for an ‘accidental placeholder’ release. The game has a full synopsis, a pre-order option but perhaps more interestingly, it highlights the different purchases/editions for the game. The latter being information that even Bethesda hasn’t released yet. At least not to my knowledge!

I spoke with a member of the Microsoft Store sales team regarding the game. They did not have any details on why it has appeared but confirmed it was definitely available for pre-order. Well, in the US at least. It, therefore, seems that Fallout 76 may no longer be a Bethesda release exclusive.

*Update* – I have personally been able to confirm that this pre-order is for the physical release only. In other words, this isn’t going to run from the Microsoft Store and you will not get any code to activate it.

What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!