Fallout 4’s Next-Gen Update is Now Available

Fallout 4's big next-gen update dropped a couple of weeks ago, and in true Bethesda fashion it was a bit of a disaster. While some couldn't access the update if they owned Fallout 4 via PlayStation Plus, it was PC players who ended up drawing the short straw, as all the update really did was break most existing mods for the title and implement a horribly stretched out widescreen feature, adding very little in the way of actual improvements.

Now that the belated “next-gen” Fallout 4 update has finally arrived (nearly four years into said generation), Bethesda has at last offered up and enhanced way to play on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5. However, the bar was already set fairly high by the excellent Xbox Backward Compatibility programme, of which Fallout 4 was an early beneficiary: thanks to the Xbox One X 4K patch and then the FPS boost, we already had the choice of whether to run in high frame rate or resolution modes (not both) on Xbox Series X and Series S. At least, that’s the idea. Currently it’s a bit broken on Xbox, but we can expect it to run as well as the PlayStation 5 version soon, and the improvements there are welcome.

It’s safe to say the reception of the Fallout 4 next-gen update has been less than ideal for Bethesda.

Amazon Prime’s Fallout TV show has supercharged excitement in the Fallout IP, leading to a significant surge in player counts across a variety of Fallout titles on Steam, but also for Fallout London, a fan-created mod for Fallout 4 that may as well be an entirely new entry in the series due to the breadth and scope of the project.

The long-awaited next-gen upgrade for launched earlier this month on PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5. Bethesda promised enhancements such as new Performance and Quality mode settings available across all platforms, as well as stability improvements and fixes, but upon its release, there have been complaints of texture issues, crashes, freezes, plummeting framerates, resolution glitches, and more. The issues seem to be worse on PC in general, but many PC players have found their game in an even more broken state due to the number of mods they'd installed over the years that were no longer supported.

Bethesda has made Fallout 4’s free next-gen update available to those who received the game via PlayStation Plus Collection.

Bethesda has said that issues preventing some PlayStation Plus subscribers from accessing Fallout 4’s next-gen update have now been resolved.

A Fallout 4 player had their collection of unique picture frames ruined after the game’s recent next-gen update was released. Fallout 4’s recent update was controversial, as it brought improvements to the open-world game, but it also introduced new bugs, broke mods, and created a few issues on some platforms.

Bethesda has confirmed that owners of the PlayStation Plus version of Fallout 4won’t be able to access the new content update.

Bethesda dropped the Next-Gen Update for Fallout 4 last week on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, adding native 4K support, free new Creation Club content and more. However, it was beset by issues and confusion, especially regarding who received the upgrade on PS5.

Fallout 4’s average load times have decreased considerably on the PS5 after the game’s next-gen patch. The recent Fallout 4 patch has been controversial since its release, but it’s not without its perks for current-gen gamers, as shown by this change.

Last week, we brought word of confusion among the ranks of eager Fallout fans trying to dive into the native PS5 port of Fallout 4, all fired up from watching Amazon's excellent adaptation. Those with access to either PS Plus Extra or Premium can now upgrade for free, with a small patch being released over the weekend.