Fallout 3 launched with so many bugs because Bethesda was "trying to do so much" with the RPG, lead designer says, and "people get tired" eventually: "There's a human element, too"

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Fallout 3 launched with so many bugs because Bethesda was "trying to do so much" with the RPG, lead designer says, and "people get tired" eventually: "There's a human element, too" News By Dustin Bailey published 14 January 2026

"We couldn't really comprehend the complexity of the freedom we were trying to give the player"

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Bethesda games are notorious for launching with massive piles of bugs and glitches ranging from annoying to absolutely hilarious. For many players – myself included – the jank is part of the charm, and an acceptable cost for games that are so big and broad. As one of the original devs on Fallout 3 explains it, it's also a reminder that even the best games are made by human people with human limits.

"We were trying to do so much," lead designer Emil Pagliarulo says in Edge Magazine issue 419, "and we couldn't really comprehend the complexity of the freedom we were trying to give the player, and how that can screw things up. There's a human element, too. As it gets deeper into development, people get tired. They make mistakes. And then, when you go to fix bugs, you have to be so careful – you can change a line of text and it blows up some art somewhere."

Whether it's The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, or Starfield, there are few games that match the scope and scale of what Bethesda does, and with so many moving parts, there are bound to be more glitches than you find in other titles. And while some online commenters like to think of buggy games as a modern problem, the 1996 release of The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall might've been the messiest of all.

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Fallout 3 offered some additional challenges, since it built on the aging technology that previously powered Oblivion. While the similarities between the two games are obvious – first-person exploration inside massive open worlds – getting new gameplay mechanics like Fallout's iconic VATS system proved to be especially difficult.

"Even though we were basically just using the Oblivion engine, there were some significant challenges figuring out VATS," lead artist Istvan Pely explains. "There was a long period where it was like, 'Is this even fun? Is this worth doing at all? Is anyone even going to use this?' We spent so much time basically trying to get the game to figure out where to put the camera so you could see the slow-motion playback. There had to be an algorithm to make sure it didn't get stuck behind an object or in the geometry or something. We only just got that working by the time we shipped."

After Morrowind and Oblivion, hardcore RPG fans didn't want Bethesda on Fallout 3 – "It was surprising to us just how much hate we got."

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Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. TOPICS Bethesda Softworks Bethesda Game Studios Dustin BaileySocial Links NavigationStaff Writer

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.

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