It’s only Monday and the strangest gaming story of this Christmas week has already arrived thanks to Fallout 4. A Russian man is reportedly suing Bethesda Softworks after becoming addicted to the open-world RPG, which caused him to lose his wife and job.
The unnamed 28-year old man from Krasnoyarsk, Siberia is seeking $7,000 (500,000 roubles) from Bethesda Softworks and the Russian localization firm, according to a report from Russia Today.
Some Fallout 4 players have already racked up dozens of hours and even more than 100 hours in the post-apocalyptic Boston setting. This Russian man’s dedication to the game was so intense he allegedly skipped work and wouldn’t interact with his friends. This led to him being fired from his job and his wife dropping him as a real world companion thanks to all the fighting over his gaming habits. His health also deteriorated as he attempted eating and sleeping more like a Synth than a human.
“If I knew that this game could have become so addictive, I would have become a lot more wary of it. I would not have bought it, or I would have left it until I was on holiday or until the New Year holidays,” a statement from the man read.
This is a test case for the Russian legal system, according to RT, and likely will not go far. A translation of a separate article provided by PC Gamer shows just how steep a hill the plantiff and his lawyers have to climb.
“Russia does not like the judicial practice of resolving disputes between ordinary consumers and foreign companies for compensation for moral damage,” Konstantin Bobrov, the director of the “Single Center for Protection” legal service said. “However, we do not have to question the legal qualification of our company, and we are ready to see how far we can go in this business.”
A similar case in 2010 was dismissed without prejudice when a Hawaiian man sued NCSoft over his addiction with Lineage II, as noted by VentureBeat.
[Image via Bethesda]
