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Fallout 76 Release Date and Time, Fallout 76 Live Now - Everything We Know

Here's all the information you need on Fallout 76, including a release date, gameplay, trailer, nukes, and more.

Jake Green avatar
Guide by Jake Green Contributor
Updated on

Fallout 76 is releasing near the end of 2018, and looks to be expanding the established Fallout universe in a big new way. In this Fallout 76 guide, we'll be walking you through everything we know so far about Bethesda's upcoming online game, including the final Fallout 76 release date, all the bits of Fallout 76 gameplay that we've seen so far, and other key details about the upcoming game.

Is Fallout 76 On Steam?

Now that Fallout 76 is live, you might be wondering where you can pick it up. If you're a PC player, your first port of call will likely be Steam, but unfortunately you won't find Fallout 76 there. Instead, Fallout 76 is only available at Bethesda.net. You'll need to install Bethesda's own launcher to play it as well, with the company avoiding Steam entirely.

Can I play Fallout 76 Offline?

Fallout 76 is the first online-focused entry in the series. Players are placed into servers with other players, sharing the world and all of its resources. If you're looking to play Fallout 76 offline, then you're out of luck. You need to be connected to the internet at all times while playing Fallout 76, if you go offline, then you'll be kicked from the game.

Fallout 76 is Live Now

It seems that servers have started to go live worldwide after the NZ launch time. Those who have the game preloaded and those who have physical copies can now jump into Appalachia. This appears to be the case across all platforms.

Fallout 76 Release Date and Unlock Time

Before the initial reveal trailer, Director at Bethesda Studios Todd Howard teased that more details would be revealed at Bethesda's E3 conference on June 10. Since then, Bethesda has now officially confirmed a release date for Fallout 76. The Fallout 76 release date has been confirmed to be November 14, 2018.

Fallout 76 is an online game so will go live at a certain time. We've got the times for all the major time zones just below, so you can see when you can start playing Fallout 76 in your area.

  • Los Angeles – 9:01pm PT, November 13
  • New York – 12:01 am ET, November 14
  • Sao Paulo, Brazil – 12:01 AM BRT, November 14
  • London, UK – 12:01 AM UTC
  • Paris, France – 12:01 AM CEST
  • Mosco, Russia -12:01 AM MSK
  • Singapore – 12:01 AM SGT, November 15
  • Taipei, Taiwan – 12:01 AM CST, November 15
  • Tokyo, Japan – 12:01 AM JST, November 15
  • Sydney, Australia – 12:01 AM AEDT, November 14

Fallout 76 New Gameplay Details

In early October, we got the chance to play Fallout 76 for ourselves in West Virginia. Just below, there's a list of all the new details we know about the game:

  • Quest Givers - There are no human NPCs at all in Fallout 76, and you can instead obtain quests through robot NPCs.
  • Weapon Degredation - Although there's no sign of a weapon rarity scale, weapon degredation is back from previous Fallout games.
  • Emotes - Group chat is available, and you can also talk to other players when you get within a certain proximity to them. There's also a limited wheel of gestures you can perform to other players, including emotes like 'thumbs up' and more.
  • Player Limits - There's usually anywhere around 20 to 24 players on one server, at any time.
  • Atom Currency - You can buy cosmetic items using Atoms, which can both be earned through in-game activities, and microtransactions.
  • No Companions - Remember how much we all loved Dogmeat in Fallout 76? Turns out Bethesda currently doesn't have any plans for any sort of companions in Fallout 76.
  • Perks - You can use special Perk Cards to give yourself new abilities, and unequip them as needed.

How Big is the Fallout 76 Map?

Thanks to Windows Central, we know that the map of Fallout 76 will be roughly "four times the size" of the map in Fallout 4. There's real world West Virginia landmarks that will be present in Fallout 76, and although The Greenbrier Hotel is meant to be one of these, Bethesda and the hotel apparently couldn't sort out a rights deal quick enough, so the hotel is referred to as simply the "Whitespring Hotel".

Fallout 76 Platforms

Fallout 76 will release on PC, PS4 and PS4. There has been no official word on a Nintendo Switch version, but Bethesda has been putting a lot of resources into Nintendo Switch lately, bringing ports of DOOM, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus and Skyrim to the console. It's possible that this will have enabled them to develop Fallout 76 to run on Nintendo Switch, but a version for Switch currently looks unlikely.

Fallout 76 Setting and Story - Trailer Details

Fallout 76 was teased in a trailer, soundtracked by John Denver's Take Me Home, Country Roads. The song references West Virginia, hinting at a possible setting for Fallout 76. Fallout 76 takes place in Vault 76, which has been mentioned in the series before. According to the Fallout Wiki, Vault 76 is one of seventeen control vaults, and is designed to open 20 years after the nuclear war. It is mentioned in Fallout 3 and its add-on Mothership Zeta, as well as in the prologue for Fallout 4.

Cover image for YouTube videoFallout 76 – Official Teaser Trailer
Watch on YouTube

This all lined up with what we'd seen in the trailer, with the Vault decorated for a "reclamation day", referring to the day the vault re-opened 20 years after the war. This would make Fallout 76 the earliest Fallout game we've seen yet, set 185 years before Fallout 4 and 59 years before the first Fallout game.

The trailer showed a sequence where a vault-dweller puts on their Pip-Boy and gets ready to leave. One detail of note is that of their outfit, which has a black wire running down the back of it. It seemed to be connected to a brass box located on the character's chest. Given that Vault 76 is designed to open so early, it could be extra equipment needed to survive the wasteland so soon after the nuclear attack. You can see the device for yourself in the image below.

This was all confirmed during the Xbox conference at E3, where Todd Howard came on stage to reveal the West Virginia setting, as well as the time period mentioned above. There will be six distinct regions to explore, filled with new creatures. Fallout 76 will have a map four times the size of Fallout 4. Check out the second trailer below.

Will Fallout 76 be an Online Game?

There had been speculation that Fallout 76 could be an online survival game in the vein of Rust. An anonymous user on a Fallout forum correctly predicted the name of the game back in 2017. They also mentioned that the game would be "set alongside an interstate highway" and is a "Fallout themed Rust clone". Further weight was added to this theory when Kotaku News Editor Jason Schreier tweeted the following tweet.

During Bethesda's E3 2018 Press Conference it was revealed that there will be a beta for Fallout 76. You can find more details in our Fallout 76 Beta Guide

Fallout 76 Gameplay Details

  • New enemies inspired by the wildlife of West Virginia
  • Nuclear Missle Camps spread throughout the world which players can break into and destroy each other's camps
  • Camp system allows players to build wherever they want
  • Sixteen times the detail when compared to Fallout 4
  • Can team up with friends in a server
  • Character Progression continues over between servers

Building is clearly going to be a huge part of Fallout 76. You can find all of the details of how building camps and settlements works in Fallout 76 by visiting our Fallout 76 Settlement Building Guide.

There's also a new nuclear weapon mechanic in which players can launch nukes on a location of there choice. We've gathered all of the details you need in our Fallout 76 Nukes Guide.

There are a bunch of new creatures to cointend with in Fallout 76. Visit our Fallout 76 Creatures Guide to find out about each one.

Is Fallout 76 Crossplay

There has been a lot of debate surrounding crossplay in the industry as of late. Thanks to Sony's refusal to allow Fortnite PS4 players to match up with other consoles, the question of whether Fallout 76 is crossplay has been on everyone's minds. Unfortunately, it seems like Fallout 76 won't be cross -play at all, and perhaps won't ever allow players on different platforms to play together. Bethesda senior vice president of communication Pete Hines confirmed as much following Sony's Fortnite cross-play news, putting rumors to rest over on Twitter.

Fallout 76 Screenshots

Now that we're getting close to the launch of Fallout 76, there are some screenshots that you can check out below. They range from group shots to glimpses at the wastleland of Allapachia.

That's everything we know about the game so far then, we'll have to wait and see if any more details are announced in the lead up to launch.