A Multiplayer Mode Was Actually Designed For ‘Fallout 4,’ But Bethesda Decided Against It

Bethesda is known for creating great single-player gaming experiences. In fact, with the exception of The Elder Scrolls Online, no recent installment from either the Elder Scrolls or Fallout franchises has included any kind of multiplayer element. With the developer’s apparent love for solo gaming, it may come as a surprise to learn that the studio actually created a multiplayer mode for early builds of Fallout 4 before eventually deciding to pull the feature from the game.

In fact, while giving an interview to Mashable, Fallout 4 director Todd Howard revealed that Bethesda generally builds multiplayer segments for all their titles to see how each game would function with additional players.

“Believe it or not, every time we do a game we design a multiplayer mode just to see what we would do,”

Howard explained that their internal multiplayer test modes for Fallout 4 were some of the things the team looked at when work first began on the game. This allows the developer time to see if multiplayer would be a direction they’d want to go. In Fallout 4’s case, Bethesda concluded that multiplayer simply wouldn’t fit with their overall design for the upcoming title, so they began working on an exclusively single-player adventure.

Howard admitted that he sees the appeal of having multiplayer in Fallout 4 but felt that the single player experience of was more important. The Fallout 4 director said that Bethesda is always looking for ways to implement multiplayer in their games.

“Then we go, ‘Yup, we shouldn’t do that. That’s an awesome idea that is way too distracting from the main thing we want to do, which is single player.’ I could see ways it would work, but development-wise, they’re very different experiences.”

Since multiplayer was cut early on in the development cycle of Fallout 4, Howard didn’t even bother to go into any details as to what exactly was included within the pre-production feature. While multiplayer might not be a part of Fallout 4 any longer, fans of Bethesda fans can be sure that the developer will likely continue experimenting with adding multiplayer modes in future titles. Even for those who might be upset after learning that Fallout 4 could have had multiplayer gameplay, Game Informer points out that at least everyone now knows that the game is strictly single-player.

Despite the news that multiplayer is now out of the question for Fallout 4, Bethesda will continue to release the tools needed for players to create their own mods for the game. In fact, Fallout 4 will even allow console players to use mods with support for the feature already confirmed for the Xbox One. As reported by the Inquisitr earlier this week, Bethesda is also trying to bring mods to the PS4 as well but says the decision is ultimately up to Sony.

Would you have liked to see multiplayer added to Fallout 4, or do you prefer Bethesda’s open-world titles to remain solo affairs?

[Images via the Bethesda Blog]