'Fallout 76' Release Date Leak: Amazon Briefly Hints at an Early Launch

We could be heading back into the wasteland even sooner than expected. Amazon briefly listed Fallout 76 for pre-order with a July 31 release date, according to a report from MMORPG news website Massively Overpowered. The date has since been changed to December 31, 2019, leaving fans to speculate on when the highly anticipated game will actually hit stores.

Bethesda has remained tight-lipped about Fallout 76 since revealing the project on May 30. Rumors about the title being a multiplayer survival shooter with base-building go as far back as December 2017, but the company has not confirmed anything or offered further details. Basically, everything we know about the game is based on the trailer, and even that relies on inference and digging through past established lore.

Is the Amazon listing reliable enough to assume a Fallout 76 release date? Maybe.

Though a retailer leak is rarely exact, they do sometimes get near the ballpark. Gamescom listed God of War for release on May 23 back in November 2017, and the game was released on April 20, a month earlier than Gamescom’s projection.

On the other hand, when the Microsoft Store put up Soul Calibur VI with a June 29 release, the developers clarified the error in a tweet. That could mean Soul Calibur VI might be released within a month or so around June 29, but it could also mean the Microsoft Store’s projection was erroneous enough to warrant an official statement.

If we’re going by historic precedent, then it’s safe to assume that Fallout 76 will be released in fall, the period when AAA developers release their most highly anticipated titles. Fallout 3 was released on October 2008 and Fallout 4 was released on November 2015.

Either way, we won’t know for sure until E3.

Bethesda is expected to share more details about Fallout 76 at E3 2018