After Phil Spencer’s camp in Fallout 76 was nuked by another player, many speculated this was done out of protest to Xbox’s closing of multiple studios and laying off employees. However, that may not have been the case.
The closure of studios such as Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin hasn’t sat well with a lot of fans since the announcement, and the head of Xbox has come under fire for the decision.
So when Spencer’s camp in Fallout 76 was nuked, it led many to believe it could be in response to the event.
One player on the game’s subreddit joked that it could be an example of review bombing “evolving” as a way to campaign against Xbox.
This was amplified when the culprit, who goes by real1090jake, posted on X to say that they made Xbox boss pay for how he “hurt” the employees who had lost their jobs.
While this made many believe it truly was an act of defiance, real1090jake did eventually explain that it was not the true intention behind the act.
Speaking to Kotaku, they detail their reasoning behind dropping the massive explosion on Spencer’s camp, saying they’ve been “planning to catch him for awhile.”
They went on to explain: “Trying to take him down was just a personal goal for me after I finished the main questline.”
It seems that real1090jake just wanted to have a one-on-one fight with Phil, but when he was finally able to catch him alone, he was just greeted with a wave instead of fighting back.
They say that their mention of getting back about the layoffs was a joke, but it was planned for weeks beforehand.
While the intentions behind the nuking may not be about the recent controversy, it’s clear that Fallout 76 fans will use this event for meme fodder for a long time.
