Ex-Bethesda Tester Once Crashed Fallout 4 So Hard It Triggered Company-Wide Alerts at Zenimax

Colin McInerney, a former game tester at Bethesda, once uncovered so many crashes in Fallout 4 that it prompted emails to the entire Zenimax Media company, reading, 'somebody found four crashes in a single morning.' McInerney, who now works at Strange Scaffold, the developer behind Am I Your Beast, served as a tester during his college years and noted that his methods evolved from typical publisher-focused testing to a more developer-oriented approach.

In an interview with GamesRadar+, McInerney explained, 'I collaborated directly with Bethesda developers, learning from them and tackling unusual tasks. At one point, I experimented with the RAM on the Xbox One, which has 8GB. I thought, how can I push it beyond its limits to cause a crash? I brought up a RAM readout and explored ways to break the game by leaking memory—something not part of standard testing procedures.'

He detailed his process: 'I accessed the console to grant myself a billion experience points, boosting my character to level 247. Then, I equipped a unique nuke launcher that fired two nukes and added an upgrade to make each one launch 10 nukes. I spent the morning super-nuking the wasteland, which led to discovering four crashes.'

McInerney added, 'In those days, such findings triggered email blasts to everyone at Zenimax Media, so even co-founder Robert Altman received notifications about the crashes.'

Reflecting on technological progress in gaming, he commented, 'I'd be fascinated to see an AI attempt my job. I have a professional knack for breaking things in ways a machine could never imagine.'

If you're considering revisiting Fallout 4, check out our summary of major updates since its release. Additionally, Bethesda games, including Fallout 4, are set to launch on the Nintendo Switch 2. The physical Switch 2 Anniversary Edition is available for preorder at various retailers for $59.99 (view it on Amazon), with a release date of April 28.