Fallout 76 Now Available For Steam Pre-Load Ahead Of Wastelanders DLC

Suit up, wastelanders, because Fallout 76 is almost live on the Steam storefront. The post-apocalyptic slice of West Virginia was previously available only through the Bethesda.net service, but it's now available for pre-load on Steam ahead of its April 14 release.

Prior to April 12, players who owned Fallout 76 on Bethesda.net could obtain a free copy of the game on Steam by linking their accounts. Publisher Bethesda also clarified that players will not be able to transfer their virtual currency Atoms from account to account, though purchases made on the storefront will be shared between the Steam and Bethesda.net versions of the game.

Both players who linked their Steam accounts for the free transfer and those who purchase Fallout 76 on Steam from April 14 to 28 will gain a free copy of Fallout Classic Edition, which includes Fallout 1, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics. Some Steam users have reported that they have not received the Fallout 76 pre-load even though they linked their accounts, and Bethesda says they're investigating the problem.

Fallout 76 comes to Steam along with its next major free expansion, Wastelanders. In addition to adding more companions, a New Vegas-esque reputation system, and a new main quest, the update will also introduce human NPCs to the game, which was a major sticking point for franchise fans. Bethesda also announced that the game will be offline for maintenance starting on April 14 at 3:00 AM ET / 12 AM PT.

Wastelanders and the Steam version of the game were originally slated to release on April 7. Bethesda made the decision to push the date by one week due to work-from-home complications caused by the ongoing coronavirus crisis.