Back in June, Bethesda officially announced the upcoming Wastelanders update for Fallout 76. The “massive free Wastelanders update” was originally scheduled for the Fall of this year, and later, more specifically, for sometime in November. That was the plan as recently as September, but a new update posted earlier today on the Bethesda website has announced the Wastelanders update will be delayed.

According to the post, the update will be cramming so much into the game, that the devs simply need more time to work on it to make sure it’s right. As of now, the large update has been pushed to early next year. “We’re excited about how Wastelanders is coming together but it’s going to need more time to be the best, most polished update it can be, so we are delaying its release to Q1 next year,” reads the post. Bethesda notes that their team will “re-evaluate and change our processes” along the way to ensure a high-quality update, which means that the timeline is not yet set in stone.

The Wastelanders update is set to finally reintroduce human NPCs to the Wasteland. According to the original announcement post, the update “introduces a new main quest full of choices and consequences, and a lot of memorable characters with unique stories.” The update will add Settlers and Raiders as NPC factions scattered amongst the Wasteland. Each one will offer different choices of interaction, potential companions, and even new weapons and armor.

While players now have a bit more of a wait for the update, today’s post did detail a few things to look forward to in Fallout 76 in the meantime. Private servers are finally launching next week, with the ability to add mods to them also coming in the near future. Unfortunately, it looks like players who want a private server will have to pay for it, but with no word yet on how much they will cost. In addition to private servers, the post detailed their careful attention to the Atomic Shop. Originally the shop was meant to sell only cosmetic items but has since been expanded to contain utility items such as Repair Kits and even a refrigerator. “Our main objective is to avoid a situation where players can spend money to gain a competitive advantage or make the game worse for other players,” reads the post.

Bethesda is fully committed to making Fallout 76 the best it can be, maintaining a careful equilibrium of paid content and game balance. You can keep up to date on all the coming changes via the Bethesda website and through the Fallout social media channels.