Fallout Fan Nukes Xbox's Boss, And It's Not Over Yet

Microsoft has not been making many friends in the gaming community this week. The news has been filled with stories of the gaming giant shuttering beloved developers Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin, and Alpha Dog Studios. Now, it appears gamers are making their frustrations with Xbox's shady side known by straight-up obliterating the Head of Xbox's virtual homestead. At a time like this, leave it to a "Fallout" fan to find the most darkly humorous method of griefing the Powers That Be.

Thanks to Amazon's hot new live-action adaptation, the "Fallout" franchise has seen a massive resurgence in popularity in recent weeks. That includes the black sheep of the franchise, the open world MMO (and turnaround success story) "Fallout 76." The game allows players to set up their own camps in the Wastelands and attempt to survive the harsh post-apocalyptic conditions of Bethesda's franchise. Much like in the franchise's other installments, players have to learn to watch their backs. Xbox boss Phil Spencer learned that the hard way this week when a fellow "Fallout 76" player dropped a nuclear weapon on his in-game camp, much to the amusement of the gaming community. 

Lmao someone nuked Phil Spencer's camp in Fallout 76 pic.twitter.com/DxfcIdH8ob

— Sam (@Sam_Snydes) May 9, 2024

A gamer who goes by real1090snake quickly took responsibility for the devastation, but his reasoning behind it has eluded a great number of onlookers. Many have seen this attack as a form of virtual protest, a spectacular method of sticking it to the man that only a gamer could come up with, but that apparently wasn't the case.

Chatting with Kotaku, real1090snake explained that the strike on Spencer's camp wasn't part of any personal vendetta or protest. Instead, he just thought it would be funny. Since Spencer spends so much time on the move, real1090snake thought it would be a worthy challenge to hunt the exec down. These efforts were often met with a friendly wave from Spencer's "Fallout 76" avatar, but these peace offerings did not dissuade real1090snake in his objective. "I joked about attacking him because he hurt our feelings...[but] it's been my mission weeks before," said real1090snake. The player also explained, "He was the final boss in my eyes. In [an] RPG I prefer to be the bad guy."

However, just because real1090snake wasn't protesting the closure of multiple studios under the Xbox umbrella, that doesn't mean others aren't being inspired by this. Some gamers on social media have expressed being impressed by the audacity of the attack, while others are already announcing plans to be on the lookout for Phil Spencer's next camp. Some fans have argued that the Microsoft Gaming CEO probably isn't too bothered by the attack, since he's put enough hours in the game to amass a pretty solid arsenal of his own. Others think that he's probably a few more nukes away from rage-quitting the game altogether. Whatever the case, Spencer has not yet weighed in on this viral news story — but fans have no doubt he's keeping a close eye on the virtual skies at this point. There's some pretty creepy stuff in "Fallout 76," but the constant threat of nuclear bombardment probably outweighs everything else.