‘Fallout 76’ Adds A Premium Subscription Service Called Fallout 1st

Fallout 76 (Bethesda Softworks)

Bethesda has announced a premium subscription service for Fallout 76 called Fallout 1st. The membership service is available to purchase now and includes access to private servers — which Bethesda calls “private worlds” — for you and your friends, exclusive items and other bonuses. So far players who have subscribed to Fallout 1st have reported a variety of issues, including the apparent loss of scrap. However, Bethesda says this is actually an issue with the UI, rather than something worse.

Private worlds has been one of the most requested features since Fallout 76 was released back in November 2018. Bethesda revealed last week that the feature would come to 76, but made no indication that it would be a paid feature. You can purchase a Fallout 1st subscription for $12.99 a month, or a 36% discount of $99.99 a year. It’s a steep price to pay in order to play Fallout 76 privately, either alone or with friends.

To compare, an Xbox Game pass is $9.99 a month and gives you access to Fallout: New Vegas and The Outer Worlds, games more equipped to call themselves proper Fallout experiences, among a myriad of other titles. At least only the owner of a private server is required to be a Fallout 1st member. Bethesda has also said it’s looking into incorporating mod support in private worlds.

Aside from receiving access to private worlds, Fallout 1st members will also receive a monthly bonus of 1,650 atoms to spend in the Atomic Shop. There will also be exclusive discounts on items in the store, and members will gain access to their own private Scrapbox as well, letting you store all of your crafting components in a separate place, instead of only the limited Stash Box. Meanwhile, the new survival tent will save you some caps by acting as a fast travel point you can place anywhere on the map, and unique emotes and the Ranger Armor outfit give you some more cosmetic options.

It feels like another misstep for Fallout 76, which has received criticism since launch and is not getting cut any slack with this new subscription service.