You’ve probably seen the news:
Lately, Bethesda has found themselves embroiled in a few legal scandals recently. These are related to their new game, Fallout 76.
Game news website TechRaptor reached out to me for comment on two of these stories.
Here’s what I had to say:
False advertising for Fallout 76?
One of the big legal issues that caused outcry from Fallout fans was the buggy state of Fallout 76 at release.
Buyers claimed that the game was not performing as advertised, and did not contain the content that they were expecting.
A NY law firm soon took up the cause, interviewing purchasers and starting an investigation into whether a class action lawsuit against Bethesda was viable.
TechRaptor wrote about the situation, and asked me for comment.
My take?
While purchasers are free to feel that they didn’t get their money’s worth, I’m not really feeling the “deceptive advertising” lawsuit angle.
See more about my thoughts in the article over on TechRaptor.
Is Bethesda committing privacy violations under the GDPR?
We’re not finished.
Another issue that came up with Bethesda recently involves their account sign-up process.
When you sign up for an account, you are given the option to opt out of personalized advertising. While this may seem to be compliant with the GDPR’s requirement to consent to this kind of thing, it may not be that simple.
My take?
The GDPR guidance is pretty clear that you need to opt IN to something like this, not be opted in by default, and need to opt OUT.
It’s probably a violation, but we’ll see if anything comes of it.
Read more about my thoughts on this and the GDPR in general over on TechRaptor.
Hope you found those interesting!
If you’ve got any other game news stories with a legal angle, let me know and I’ll write up a post!
