Pete Hines recently spoke with IGN during Gamescom 2018. During the discussion, the Bethesda VP addressed fan concerns about Fallout 76 single-player. He also explained why he hates the word “replayability,” and has apparently banned its use in his office.
Pete Hines on Fallout 76 Single-Player
IGN interviewed Pete Hines during the course of Gamescom. Asked about Fallout 76, he stated that he prefers to play the game solo. “I grouped once,” he says; “Once. Otherwise, I just like… I like going out by myself… I just go out and explore. I decide whether I’m going to try and do some big quest or a personal quest like putting a scope on a rifle I just went through the trouble to repair… I’m in this world where I’m just trying to survive, and I feel like I’m alone. I feel like I’m playing Fallout by myself.”
Hines’ comments should reassure players who are concerned that they will encounter too many other players in their game world. Todd Howard stated during Bethesda’s E3 presentation that the Fallout 76 game world would only support “dozens,” and not “hundreds” of other players. However, that has not stopped fans becoming concerned that there will be too great a presence of other players. Hines also said that grouping up doesn’t stop players acting on their own. On the one occasion he did play with a group, he says; “It’s not like grouping up means all four of us have to walk around the map together and do stuff. The game is like, ‘look, just do whatever you want. If he decides to go off here and start base building, he’s doing quests…the game doesn’t care.”
Why Pete Hines Hates the Word “Replayability”
During the conversation, Hines mentioned how he dislikes the word “replayability”. “We have a joke in the office,” he says; “I have banned the word replayable because that’s not a feature. Every game is replayable. Tetris is replayable. Every game can be replayed from the beginning. That’s not unique. That’s not a feature”. Hines has a point. Most developers stress replayability as a selling point of their games.