What you need to know
- Fallout is a video game series first launched by Interplay in 1997 and acquired by ZeniMax Media’s Bethesda Softworks in 2007.
- Every Fallout game currently has a growing number of players on Steam, and multiple titles are best sellers on Steam and GOG.
- This resurgence is thanks to numerous promotions and sales, as well as the launch of a well-received Fallout TV show on Prime Video.
A well-timed show and some sales gave the big Xbox series an adrenaline rush.
The Fallout series is currently experiencing a resurgence in popularity, with every game in the series seeing an increase in player numbers. According to SteamDB, which tracks things like player count and price history for Steam games, Bethesda Game Studios’ Fallout 4 is currently being played by more than 53,000 concurrent players.
Fallout 4 reached 472,000 concurrent players on Steam nearly nine years ago, but while it’s far from the game’s all-time peak, Fallout 4 has averaged around 18,000 to 20,000 players in recent years. This is a significant increase over recent standards. Year.
Similar stories can be found in all other Fallout games. The team’s multiplayer game, Fallout 76, typically has more than 10,000 players on Steam, but his player count has grown to 26,000. Fallout 3 (first released in 2008) went from an average of 500 players to 3,600. His 2010 offering for Obsidian Entertainment, Fallout: New Vegas, typically averaged 3,000 to 4,000 players, but now he has over 11,000 concurrent players.
Why is the Fallout series making a comeback?
There are several different factors contributing to this resurgence of players across Fallout games, but one of the biggest is the recent launch of the Fallout TV series on Prime Video. The series has been well-received, and you can read my review now, with praise and respect for the original.
Besides driving interest in the show, there’s also a franchise-wide sale going on right now. Fallout 4 is available on Steam for just $5, and Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas are available for half that price. Fallout 76 is currently running a free trial, and the long-awaited Fallout 4 current-gen update will arrive on April 25th for Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5 players.
Of course, as part of the Xbox Series thanks to Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda’s parent company ZeniMax Media, Fallout games are also available on Xbox Game Pass.
Do TV adaptations usually boost game sales and player numbers?
We’ve seen evidence in the past that well-received TV adaptations of game series have a synergistic effect, with games gaining new and returning players with renewed interest thanks to the show.
After the launch of the HBO show “The Last of Us” in January 2023, game sales increased significantly, with “The Last of Us Part 1” and “The Last of Us Part 2” each in the US in 2023. It became the 6th and 18th best-selling game in February. . Prior to that, the release of the anime Cyberpunk: Edgerunners on Netflix contributed to the sales increase for Cyberpunk 2077.
Analysis: It’s a great time to set the world on fire
It’s the perfect time to get back into Fallout (or start it for the first time). Anecdotally, I know a lot of people who are buying the game twice now on sale. Personally, I’m going to go back to Fallout 4 once the update goes live, but I might need to spend more time with Fallout 76 after that.
In the meantime, if you want to learn more about the making of the Fallout TV series, check out our interviews with creator Jonathan Nolan, showrunners, and some of the cast.
