Earlier this week, a new exploit in Fallout 76 allowed holiday grinches to steal other player’s inventories. Devious players were taking full backpacks full of equipment, even the current clothing another person was wearing.
PC gamers were panicking. The game has been out for more than a year, but some items take a lot of hard work to acquire.
As the exploit was exposed, many players began to ask Bethesda for help. The publisher and developer did not announce the news on social media, possibly so others wouldn’t find out and share the exploit.
Bethesda Game Studios made a public announcement on the Reddit Fallout 76 sudreddit. They posted a message shortly before December 25th, but the issue is still being reported.
Bethesda stated: “We are investigating reports of a PC-only exploit that could be abused by cheaters, which may have resulted in a few players losing items that their characters had equipped. We have been actively working toward a solution for this and have a fix that we are currently evaluating for release today.”
The company has announced they will work with players to compensate them for their loss. Players have to submit a ticket to the Bethesda Customer Support Team with more information regarding their loss.
Submitting a ticket when the victim doesn’t know how it happened can be tricky. Reddit users have suggested writing down the time, date, where the user was in the game, and what items were taken. Players don’t have to know the name of the person who took their gear, as others have reported the exploit happening within render distance.
Bethesda believes that “only a small number of characters have been negatively affected” while gamers are disagreeing. Many argue that it’s hundreds or thousands, but there’s no word on the exact number affected.
For now, the only safe way to play is to play on consoles, stay offline, or play in private servers. Private servers cost money, but it is the only way to keep enjoying Fallout 76 on PC and avoid being exploited.
Bethesda announced they would take the game offline to resolve the issue. Hopefully, this means that PC players can continue to enjoy exploring the Appalachia without having their items stolen.
Fallout 76 is currently available for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
