According to Kotaku, Bethesda’s 10th anniversary update for Fallout 4 has been a complete disaster, breaking user-created mods, destroying save games, and making the Creations mod system practically unusable. The company announced that emergency patches are coming in November and December 2024, with an immediate hotfix scheduled for early next week. Specific fixes include addressing broken DLC recognition and improving Creations menu performance. Xbox Series players will see their local storage limit increased to 100GB, while PlayStation improvements are still being “looked into.” This marks the second time in 2024 that Bethesda has broken Fallout 4 with an anniversary celebration update.
Here we go again
And honestly, does anyone feel surprised? This is basically the same script Bethesda ran back in April 2024 when they first tried to “celebrate” Fallout 4’s anniversary by breaking everything. They promised patches then too, and players ended up begging them to just leave the game alone. But here we are, seven months later, watching the exact same train wreck unfold.
What’s particularly frustrating is that the Creations system should be a positive addition. It’s the same mod distribution platform that works reasonably well in Skyrim and Starfield. But in Fallout 4? It’s struggling to display mods properly, running incredibly slowly, and apparently even paid content isn’t showing up correctly. So we’ve got a broken system breaking everything else. Perfect.
The patch promises begin
Now Bethesda says they’ll have a hotfix next week, followed by full patches during the week of November 24 and in the first half of December. But here’s the thing – they haven’t actually specified what these patches will fix beyond the most critical issues. They’re being vague, which never inspires confidence.
I mean, think about this: how does a company release an update that makes the game unable to recognize DLC that people paid for? That’s not just a bug – that’s fundamentally breaking the product people purchased. And save games being destroyed? That’s potentially hundreds of hours of gameplay gone forever.
The modding community pays the price
What really gets me is the continued disregard for the modding community that has kept this game alive for a decade. Every time Bethesda “updates” an older game, they break countless mods that volunteers have spent thousands of hours creating. It’s like they’re punishing the very people who have extended their games’ lifespans.
And let’s be real – Bethesda games have always needed mods to reach their full potential. The company releases these amazing frameworks that the community then polishes into masterpieces. Breaking that ecosystem isn’t just inconvenient – it’s damaging the soul of what makes these games special.
Will this time be different?
So the big question is: will these patches actually fix things, or will they just introduce new problems? Bethesda’s track record here isn’t exactly stellar. They’ve acknowledged the issues on Twitter, but vague promises about future fixes don’t restore lost save files or immediately fix broken games.
Maybe the real anniversary gift Bethesda could give Fallout 4 players is to stop “fixing” what isn’t broken. After ten years, the game had found a stable equilibrium with the modding community. Sometimes the best update is no update at all.
