Have you ever REALLY wanted to talk about something that you probably shouldn’t because of an agreement you have made? One leaker of the Fallout 76 Stress Test may have actually been banned from not just Fallout 76, but also from Xbox services until 2019.
Update #2 – 2:54pm CT: After reaching out to Microsoft yesterday for a statement, the company representative has responded regarding the claims of Carjbee317’s friend being banned stating that the company will have to decline to make a comment due to the allegations being speculation and rumor. We are still waiting to hear back from Bethesda at this time.
Update #1 – 5:13PM CT: In a response email to the inquiry regarding these matters, the Redditor gave us some information about what happened regarding his friends – the leaker’s – account (the one now deleted). In a statement, Carjbee317 says that the reason the ban had happened was related to some of the games not-yet revealed content, “So the clip that was put on Twitter is of the new ammunition and medical stations along with the Cranberry Bog. That’s all it really had.”
When requested to obtain screenshots and or information regarding the banned accounts, Carjbe317 followed up with the following, “my friend will not let me share the photos for personal reasons.”
At this time, we are still waiting to hear back from Bethesda and their PR teams about our inquiry regarding this matter. We’ll update accordingly once our inquiries have been responded to.
Original Story: As someone who has done quite a few playtests in their lives, I’ve played plenty of games that I can’t talk about at any one point in time. Some of these games are still in development, some are canceled and others, well I can’t say anything nor will I ever due to my NDA’s I have signed. See how simple that was? Unfortunately, there are people that can’t keep a secret if their lives have depended on it in recent days.
According to a recent report, the post now deleted on Reddit, but the comments can still be read, a user has decided to post a video clip that ran about a minute half of Bethesda Game Studios’ upcoming title Fallout 76 over on Twitter. As part of the NDA, users who are doing early stress testing aren’t supposed to do anything of the sort. No pictures, no screenshots, no videos, no audio recordings – no nada.
That’s how NDA’s work 100% of the time as some publishers or studios don’t wish to have their games shared in their early state or any state at all due to changes that can be made to the game before it ever gets a single press release. In the NDA for Fallout 76, Bethesda has outlined the terms and conditions regarding how a perpetrator that decides to break these rules can be treated, which isn’t limited to Microsoft terminating your account, restricting your user profile and/or device access to the Xbox Live service as a whole.
Unfortunately, one user has found themselves in this very predicament, which didn’t just cause their Xbox Live and Bethesda accounts to be restricted in some form or another. His Twitter account had also been taken down along with his Xbox Live account. In the post, it was stated that he also wasn’t able to access his Xbox Game Pass or anything else through their console.
According to the report, the leaker also got an email from Bethesda stating that they were banned from the upcoming B.E.T.A. until Oct. 25. According to reports (as seen on Comicbook.com), Bethesda was also responsible for taking down his Twitter account, which was later restored according to a follow-up post on the Reddit. Unfortunately for the leaker, their Xbox Account still remains disabled up to this post, and that they will be reinstated after January 1st.
What does all this mean? Simply don’t break NDA. There are serious legal repercussions that can happen outside of account bans, deletions and even removal from future B.E.T.A. participations. We have reached out to both Bethesda and Redditor Carjbee317 to confirm the story and obtain comment regarding these matters. We’ll keep you updated as more information is made available.
Fallout 76 is scheduled to release on November 14th for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
About the Writer(s):
Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the borders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter or Facebook.