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FakeMemo

Mythbuster Time[]

Firstly, when looking at Fallout 4 "leaks", we gotta ask ourselves if it passes the smell test. In this case, we have what looks like plausible Bethesda letterhead. The message the memo seems to be trying to convey also seems plausible - its a reminder to employees that leaking can see them "disciplined" - that is something that companies really do do, especially when coming up to a launch.

But there's some problems with it:

  1. The Grammar is fishy. "Any employee found in to be breach in below guidance will result in disciplinary action" (should be "will face" disciplinary action); "The Annual E3 event will take place June" (the word in seems to be missing); "As mentioned in the Previous addressing" (first off, wrong tense "As mentioned in the previous address" might be valid, but using the term "Address" for a communication is a bit archaic, "Meeting", "Bulletin", "Communication" or "Memo" would be more common).
  2. You are prohibited from using the following terms... This list is non exhaustive. That doesn't make any logical sense. You cant have a prohibited words list that is non exhaustive.
  3. The prohibited terms list is non sensical. If "Fallout" is prohibited, you couldn't say "Fallout 4" "Fallout: Nuka World" or even "I like Fallout Boy" without breaking the rules. Same with "Elder Scrolls" and "Elder Scrolls VI".
  4. Preventing employees using the terms "Fallout" and "Elder Scrolls" would prevent them talking about The Elder Scrolls: Online, other released games, and the contents of the Bethesda Store. That would be shooting themselves in the foot, especially with important TES:O updates coming soon.
  5. Listing the names is probably sharing too much information. To keep secrecy, you probably don't even want people to know what other projects are going on unless they need to know. More ambiguous project names would be expected ("Van Buren" could have been anything), and you might not even share those names in the memo.

A memo that would be more in line with what you could expect is:

"All Employees: Just a reminder with the E3 expo coming up in June you should not discuss any upcoming projects that have not been officially announced. Releasing such information is a breach of your employment contract and may result in disciplinary action up to and including dismissal. If you receive any a question on any unannounced project, please refer this to (person or office responsible for media communications)."

Result[]

There's two possibilities here

  1. Its a fake
  2. Whoever writes internal communications at Bethesda is very bad at it. Coupled with this, someone has put their entire career at risk by leaking a picture of a document telling them not to leak - Not only is doing so grounds for dismissal, if they were dismissed they would never be able to get a job in the video game industry (or any other) ever again... Can you imagine explaining to a would be employer during a job interview the reason why you left the last employer is because you were fired for leaking company secrets?

Which seems the most plausible to you?


Edit: Richie9999 has looked at the sigature and thinks it might be done by pen, not printed. If this was for mass distribution, they wouldnt all be manually signed - if signed at all. I'm no expert, but part of that signature looks like uneven pen pressure to me, rather than the constant line a photograph of a signature would produce.

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