Bethesda faces lawsuit over Fallout 4 DLC
Bethesda is facing a class-action lawsuit over the way it handled the release of DLC for Fallout 4.The lawsuit revolves…
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Bethesda is facing a class-action lawsuit over the way it handled the release of DLC for Fallout 4.
The lawsuit revolves around Fallout 4's Season Pass, which was announced in September 2015 with a $30 price tag (later increased to $50) and promising access to all the DLC ever done for the game, GamesBeat reported.
However, in 2017, Bethesda announced Creation Club, which is described as "a collection of all-new content for both Fallout 4 and Skyrim." That content was created both by external partners and Bethesda Games Studios itself, and isn't available to people who have bought the Season Pass.
The attorneys of the class-action lawsuit, Filippo Marchino and Thomas Gray from The X-Law Group, argue that this content constitutes DLC and that players who purchased the Season Pass should therefore have access to it.
The lawsuit, which was filed in July 2019, encompasses charges including breach of contract, unjust enrichment, negligent misrepresentation, and deceit or fraud. Bethesda's counsel, Margaret Esquenet, denied the accusations.
The lawsuit could delay Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda's parent company ZeniMax, with Marchino telling GamesBeat: "What we're going to try and do is go in and ask a judge to stop the sale between Microsoft and Bethesda to preserve the assets. And it's known as a motion for preliminary injunction."
A trial could happen by 2022, GamesBeat said, and damages could be as high as $1.1 billion, more if you include punitive damages.
"Simply put, Bethesda sold a Season Pass with the understanding that it was going to give the holders of the Season Pass any and all DLC content there was going to be created for the game Fallout 4 on a go-forward basis," Marchino said.
"They released a limited amount of DLC. Then they released a second wave of DLC, but decided to call it the Creation Club content and artificially removed it from the definition of DLC. Meaning that they promised people at the onset, we will give you everything we made. And then they reneged on that promise, and they did so to their benefit or the detriment of the plaintiffs. So that's where they did something wrong. They lied. They took money from gamers, and then they made more money."
GamesIndustry.biz reached out to Bethesda for comment.
And here's a link to the Blog post the suit is referring to:
After many long years, Fallout 4 is entering its final months of development.
We've put so much into it for so long; we can't believe it's almost done. The game will soon be out of our hands and into yours. There's so much there that we haven't talked about or spoiled, because we want you to discover it, to make it your own.
It's during this stage of development that we start thinking about how we'll support Fallout 4 after launch. We wanted to give you a taste of what we plan on doing:
REGULAR UPDATES
We'll be doing regular free updates to the game, and like Skyrim, these will come with not just fixes, but new features. For Skyrim we added things like mounted combat, legendary mode, kill cams, visual enhancements and more. We'll work with all of you to figure out what new things you'd love to see added to Fallout 4, whether they are small tweaks or new features.
MODS & CREATION KIT
The most important thing in our games is the freedom you have to create your own experience, and modding is a big part of that. Like all our previous games, we've made sure to keep Fallout 4 open and moddable at every step in development. Early next year we'll release for free the new Creation Kit for the PC. This is the same tool we use in the studio. You'll be able to create your own mods and share them with others. We're especially excited these same mods will then be coming to Xbox One, and then PlayStation 4.
DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT
We've always done a lot of DLC for our games. We love making them and you always ask us for more. To reward our most loyal fans, this time we'll be offering a Season Pass that will get you all of the Fallout 4 DLC we ever do for just $30. Since we're still hard at work on the game, we don't know what the actual DLC will be yet, but it will start coming early next year. Based on what we did for Oblivion, Fallout 3, and Skyrim, we know that it will be worth at least $40, and if we do more, you'll get it all with the Season Pass.
Thanks again to all of you! The support and excitement you've given Fallout 4 has blown us away. It's energized us even more to do everything we can in these final months to make this our best game yet. We absolutely can't wait for you to play it, and share your adventures with us and each other.
