The TV show and a few promos are helping to increase the number of players in every Fallout game.
What you need to know
The video game series Fallout was first released by Interplay in 1997, and Bethesda Softworks, a division of ZeniMax Media, purchased it in 2007.
There are now more players playing every Fallout game on Steam, and several of them have become best-sellers on both GOG and Steam.
Many deals and promotions, along with the release of a well-received Fallout TV series on Prime Video, are to blame for its comeback.
A major Xbox series has received a boost from a well-timed show and some sales.
At the moment, the Fallout series is experiencing a comeback, with more players than ever in each of the series’ games. Fallout 4 by Bethesda Game Studios is presently being played by nearly 53,000 concurrent users, according to SteamDB, which keeps track of player counts, price histories, and other information for Steam games.
This is a significant increase over the recent average, since Fallout 4 had been averaging between 18,000 and 20,000 people for the previous few years. It is still far from the game’s all-time high, which was attained when it was only nine years old and had 472,000 concurrent players on Steam.
All other Fallout games tell a story that is essentially the same. Fallout 76, the team’s multiplayer game, now has 26,000 players on Steam, up from the typical over 10,000. Since its first release in 2008, Fallout 3 has seen an increase in gamers from 500 to 3,600 on average. Fallout: New Vegas, released by Obsidian Entertainment in 2010, typically had between 3,000 and 4,000 users at a time, although it currently has over 11,000 active players.
Why is the Fallout game series seeing a resurgence?
There are a several reasons for this player comeback in the Fallout games, but the most important one is the new Fallout TV series that Amazon Video just released. You can see my review of the series here. It has been warmly received, with respect for the original source material and appreciation for the original tale.
In addition to piqueing viewers’ curiosity, there is now a franchise-wide deal going on. Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas are available for half as much on Steam as Fallout 4, which is available for just $5. A long-awaited current-generation update for Fallout 4 will be available to owners of Xbox Series X|S, Windows PCs, and PlayStation 5 systems on April 25. Fallout 76 is currently available for free trial.
Naturally, as an Xbox
Do TV show adaptions usually boost game sales and player counts?
There has been proof in the past that a successful TV adaptation of a video game series can have a positive feedback loop, bringing in new and returning players as a result of piqued interest in the g
After The Last of Us HBO show launched in January 2023, game sales saw a significant increase, with The Last of Us Part 1 and The Last of Us Part 2 becoming the sixth and eighteenth best-selling games of February 2023 in the U.S, respectively.
Analysis: Now is a fantastic time to blow up the globe.
This is an excellent opportunity to revisit Fallout or play it for the first time, and based on my experience, many of the people I know are taking advantage of the current sales and purchasing the games twice. When the update comes out, I know I’ll be returning to Fallout 4, and I may even need to play more of Fallout 76 after that.
While you wait, you can read my interview with Fallout creator Jonathan Nolan, showrunners, and several cast members to find out more about the making of the TV series.
