Bethesda has already confirmed that its upcoming multiplayer RPG Fallout 76 will be exclusive to its Bethesda.net Launcher on PC, skipping a Steam release entirely. However, this may not mean that all upcoming games by the publisher will go the same route.
During QuakeCon 2018, Bethesda's Pete Hines said to IGN that “We did not announce ‘all future Bethesda games will not be on Steam.' That is not what we said. We said ‘this game will be available exclusively on Bethesda.net.’”
As to why the company decided to go exclusive, he said it was to "to provide the best experience and service to our customers" without having to go through third-party solutions like Steam. He added:
"There are some different things that have happened or have come up where having everyone work directly with you does make things a little easier in terms of talking to your player base, having them talk to you. I am 100% sure I know whose fault it is and whose problem it is when you’re having an issue with the game: it’s ours."
When asked whether there is a chance that Fallout 76 could arrive on Steam at a later date, Hines said "Is it possible? I guess, but I honestly couldn’t give you any guarantee one way or the other on whether it will or won’t.” In regards to Doom Eternal's fate on the PC platform, Hines reiterated that this has not been decided yet.
Bethesda has a hefty line-up of games on the horizon. As announced at E3 in June, the company has Doom Eternal, Rage 2, and Wolfenstein: Youngblood slated for launch before 2020, with Starfield and The Elder Scrolls VI arriving later on. It will be interesting to see how Fallout 76 fares without a Steam launch, and if the company will stick to its own platform for future titles even in the event that 76 doesn't perform as expected via the Bethesda.net Launcher.
Source: IGN
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