Will there be a day one patch?

We don't know.

Why should there be? A day 1 patch is indicitive that the game didn't have all major forseeable bugs fixed.

Why should there be...you ask, a game this big and Bethesda is known for glitchy games...that's why I ask?

A day one patch is fairly normal and is no big deal.

There may be several minor fixes that don't make the 'Gold build' ready for pressing.

A game of Fallout 4's size will have some updates so why not day one?

Not impossible, Beth known to have bugs in there games by launch.

Whether there will be one is in the end irrelevant. Games like these are bound to have an immense amount of bugs. My only wish is that this time Beth at least tries to fix them. Beth left Skyrim in an abhorrent state, riddled with bazillions of bugs, some of which ARE gamebreaking (like the save bloat issue).

I expect it with every game nowadays.... given the time between a game being declared "gold" and sent off to be stuck on discs/approved by Sony & MS, there's plenty of time to do more bug checking/etc. If there weren't a day 1 patch, it would feel like maybe they were lazy and didn't keep QA'ing. (because really - these days pretty much all games are big & complex enough that there's always going to be more bugs.)

It is very likely...

Yes I expect one. First for those that pre-load or get the hard copy early it will be the key file to launch the game. Then there's normally at least a month between the game gold gold (discs) and being released, I'd like to think the Devs would continue looking for bugs and trying to find optimisations for the game, no matter what it will end up with some issues that they can't find internally due how many possibilities the fan base can achieve in both hardware and game choices

A "Day One Patch" is pretty much the norm nowadays. The company gets the game ready to ship, while techs behind-the-scenes work on last-minute bug fixes. Then, when Launch Day comes, you install and download the patch. And then the "fun" begins, as the game hits tons of new system configurations that the game publisher could never have tested for - and new bugs are discovered - possibly game-breaking bugs. Then comes the mad scramble to patch the game-breaking bugs...then the really big, but not game-breaking bugs...then the other bugs (and the new bugs as they are revealed). *sigh* The fact that we have so much new technology, so many different configurations, and so many possible software conflicts means that yes, there will be bugs. This is one area where Consoles have an advantage. A specific Console will have very limited hardware configurations, all by the same manufacturer(s) generally (and 3rd party manufactured parts are not guarantied to work, so they are off the hook there) - the same OS (with usually mandatory updates to install some games), etc. A Developer can pretty much test the crap out of every possible "official" Console configuration. Not so with PCs.

So sit back, relax, and if the game runs great for you out of the box - be happy!

Yes. The biggest gripe i have with my Xbox One is that no matter what I buy, it always has to download something. Add in the super slow internet in my town, and it is enough to make you scream!!

I'm expecting one, or one pretty early on. Keep in mind that it takes a few months to produce, ship, and distribute all those disks. Why not have QA working on patches during that time?

Thank you all for posting and your right its almost a given....almost every game I have for my ps4 and xbox one has a day one patch.

Almost definitely, sad thing is even if you buy the physical copy you will be forced (especially on Steam) to download a rather sizable patch. It's just the way things work now. My heart goes out to those that have slow connections and will have to wait chomping at the bit to play it.

I'm betting there will be one. No biggie

Yes.

Probably? There's no way to know, and I can't remember if there were day ones for Skyrim or New Vegas which were steamworks.

A day one patch is welcome, so long as it's not some several GB. I never understood how patches could get so big.

...you ask this like we got a hookup somewhere at BGS.
How the hell should we know?

Bank on it.

There is nothing they can really do about people taking rare bugs and pretending as if they are common occurrences in the game. Yes, it happens from time to time, but BGS probably spends more time on bugs than most studios do actually making their game so I can't fault them. I'd rather they made the games the way they make them than restricting player freedom for the sake of a smoother experience. Bugs had a minimal impact on my experience with Skyrim.

Sky ran fine for me on day one with its day 1 patch. I'm expecting a similar experience with Fallout 4

Yes.. It'll be a 100gb patch that'll take 10 hours to download because of network problems. Instead of fixing anything in the game it will actually create a system wide error that will completely mess up your pc or console. This will all be fixed in the day 2 patch.

SSSSHHHHHH!!!! Don't speak such evil!

It's normal. Considering they have already wrapped everything up, more or less. So the last month or two before release they could use for more bug fixing that won't make it into the gold copy. But we will get it at or around release day. I'm guessing a few days afterwards it more likely, though.