"Wastelanders wasn’t even on our radar": the Fallout 76 community is the reason we're getting human NPCs

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Thank player demand for Fallout 76's new human NPCs

The news that Fallout 76 is getting human NPCs in its Wastelanders update made me whoop with joy, and I just know that I wasn't alone in that elation. With the absence of human NPCs being the main criticism of Fallout 76 for so many people, this could be the first sign that Fallout 76 is gradually becoming the MMO we thought it would be. But according to Marc Tardif (co-studio director at Bethesda Game Studios), that Wastelanders update and the NPCs in it wasn't on Bethesda's radar until the community mentioned it. 

"Wastelanders wasn’t even on our radar. But the community helped drive us in that direction," he told me during an interview at E3 2019. What's clear from my time talking to both Tardif and Jeff Gardiner (project lead at Fallout 76) is how much the community - i.e. you - influences what goes on behind-the-scenes for Fallout 76, with Tardif also saying that when it comes to Nuclear Winter, the game's new battle royale mode, "the community is going to drive what we do with it. We’ve got some ideas, but they’ll dictate it." 

Bethesda is listening to what players want to see, and hopefully that's a sign of good things on the horizon. So if you were holding back from getting invested in Fallout 76, now might be the time to jump in. Just watch out for devious deathclaw labyrinths… 

Here's how to join the Fallout 76 free week, or look below to see our preview of Cyberpunk 2077!

Zoe Delahunty-Light
Zoe Delahunty-Light
Former GamesRadar+ Staff

While here at GamesRadar, Zoe was a features writer and video presenter for us. She's since flown the coop and gone on to work at Eurogamer where she's a video producer, and also runs her own Twitch and YouTube channels. She specialises in huge open-world games, true crime, and lore deep-dives.