Bethesda releases a thank you letter to their fans for Fallout 4's launch success that details plans for beta testing and launching patches starting on PC.

Fallout 4's launch has been outrageously successful, there's no doubting that. Over 12 million copies of Fallout 4 were sent to retailers in order to meet day one demand, turning into over $750 million in revenue.

It's no surprise then that Bethesda wants to say thank you to their fans, and so they have in a letter published on the Bethesda home page this morning. The letter goes into Bethesda's appreciation of its fans, while also recognizing that there's work to be done. The letter closes out with plans for a beta patch to be released as soon as next week.

Bethesda's thank you starts the letter off, as it should. The team notes the success of the game and then goes on to encourage players to explore and enjoy the world of Fallout 4 to the fullest:

"Thank you! We can't say it enough- thank you for the amazing support you've given us. We're incredibly blessed to have so many incredible fans. You've made Fallout 4 not just our largest game launch ever, but one of the industry’s. It's beyond anything we hoped for.

Seeing and reading your stories has given our whole studio immense joy. It's amazing to see what you've done with the game, what you've discovered, and what you've built! We know there's even more to come; the game is full of hidden gems and ways it can be played."

It's interesting to see Bethesda describe their enjoyment of fans playing Fallout 4 with the phrase, "reading your stories." Considering Bethesda has spent the last years crafting stories of their own for players to experience, letting go of that and respecting that players will be creating their own in Fallout 4 is worth respecting. Oddly enough, if this part of the letter was a fan writing to Bethesda, it could read very similar.

As for patch and update details, Bethesda is understandably vague. The language in the letter revolves more around plans and structure for upcoming changes to the game as opposed to what they'll specifically be targeting. In general, they note that there's no feasible way their QA team formed of hundreds of testers could replicate the crazy shenanigans that millions of players are currently discovering in-game. And so Bethesda is currently sorting through the various issues players have found and working as fast as possible.

Here's the process by which Bethesda will update Fallout 4 as soon as they have a patch put together:

"Our process for updating the game will include releasing a beta patch on Steam, followed by full release on PC, then release on the consoles. This process has worked well for us in the past and allows us to get more fixes out faster. Expect to see more updates, that are smaller and more frequent, than a few big ones. This allows us to make sure each fix is working right, as any change can have unintentional side effects in a game this huge."

Patches will first be released in beta form through Steam, followed by a full PC launch once a patch is stable. Console patches, which can be costly and have a higher risk should even the smallest of bugs sneak through, will then be released further down the line. Bethesda closed out the letter by stating that they expect the first beta patch's release next week. Details on that patch should be forthcoming.

For now Bethesda just wants to say thank you for believing in and supporting Fallout 4. And it seems think Fallout 4 players have already reciprocated the feeling.

Source: Bethesda