Over the past few days, a number of reports have been circulating online claiming that Bethesda has added a sales tax to the game’s in-app purchases in Fallout 76. The news has been met with a mix of both excitement and confusion. The Fallout 76 in-app purchases are essentially the same as with the previous Fallout titles, but players are now being asked to add 2.9% sales tax to their total purchase price.
As with most online games, Fallout 76 charges $60 for the full game experience and then $10 for each additional piece of downloadable content. While $60 is a lot to ask, especially for a game that is not finished yet, it is not a complete surprise. In a world where free-to-play games are the norm, there is a lot of pressure on Bethesda, the creators of the Fallout franchise, to bring in revenue.
“Nothing is certain except death and taxes,” as the saying goes, and that appears to be the case in Fallout 76, the online multiplayer survival action RPG that debuted to great ignominy last year. Billed as a variation on the shared world shooter with the grim but humorous post-apocalyptic flavor that has become the series trademark, it continues to receive criticism for its glitches, its barren world, and somewha
Nonetheless, it has enough supporters to allow it to continue to be enjoyed for what it is. Unfortunately, numerous upgrades have been released since then, sometimes combining useful improvements with unwelcome ones. The most recent one, released yesterday, is no exception, requiring players to accept that, just as death is a part of Fallout 76’s grim post-nuclear future, so are taxes.
While trading items has always been an option in the game, letting players barter unwanted items with other players, the patch added vending machines. These machines let players set up automated stores at their campsites that anyone can use while they’re out looking for trouble. That means players can stock their campsites with goods for sale, set prices and hope for a bit of revenue. But here’s the catch: 10% tax.
“Whenever a player purchases one of your products, you will be notified. The newest patch notes said that “90% of the selling amount will be credited to your Cap balance.” “This ten percent charge is intended to assist keep the game’s economy healthy and to keep inflation at bay.” By the way, caps aren’t premium money, so there are probably better methods to combat “inflation” than taking it out of digital wallets.
You can only get more caps by killing monsters, selling items to robot merchants, and trading; you can’t simply swipe your credit card and get more right now. Some gamers are understandably annoyed that Bethesda is the market’s unseen hand in their wallet. “How does allocating 10% of our caps to player vending ‘support a healthy game economy?’” On the game’s subreddit, user Panickedsoul posted.
“Do you realize what this is going to do? To make up for the discrepancy, we’ll charge more for the goods than we really desire. “I’d want to know how this benefits gamers in any way,” Panickedsoul said. That’s precisely what’s been going on. To guarantee that gamers understood how to obtain the cap revenue they wanted, Reddit user femiwhat created a simple math tutorial.