The success of Prime Video's Fallout TV show has spilled over into the video games it's based on, with even decades-old titles gaining player numbers.
Steam data tracker SteamDB reported that Bethesda's Fallout games more than doubled their combined concurrent players on Steam with the release of the Fallout TV series. This applies to Fallout 4 released in November 2015, Fallout New Vegas released in October 2010, and Fallout 76 released in April 2020. This boost is big enough to push Fallout 76 to a new peak in concurrent users, a Steam record of 39,455 — four years after it's been out.
Even older Fallout games not developed by Bethesda are experiencing a modest resurgence. Fallout 2's Steam concurrent users hit a new peak of 1,062 users on April 14th, and the first Fallout video game also surpassed 2,300 concurrent users on the same day. .
Steam manufacturer Valve publishes the number of concurrent player connections, but equivalent statistics for games on consoles and PC are not available. However, given the huge success of the Fallout TV show, it seems safe to assume that Fallout games are becoming more popular no matter where they are played.
In fact, Fallout 4 is Steam's best-selling video game by revenue, ahead of Counter-Strike 2 and Helldivers 2. Fallout 4: Game of the Year Edition is #4, Fallout 76 is #5, and Fallout New Vegas is #11. “Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition” ranks 14th. Fallout 76 rose a whopping 41 places on the chart.
Social media is full of anecdotes of people finishing the Fallout TV show and going back to Fallout games they already own or buying the games to experience more of the post-apocalyptic world. Masu.
With the release of the Fallout TV series, Fallout's concurrent players on Steam more than doubled. pic.twitter.com/eE0dQiYXQW
— SteamDB (@SteamDB) April 14, 2024
Bethesda was poised to capitalize on the expected renewed interest in Fallout in general with numerous promotions and sales throughout the series. Also announced was the release date for his long-awaited next-gen update for Fallout 4, which also affected his equally anticipated DLC-sized mod, Fallout London.
Elsewhere, we know Bethesda has Fallout 5 on its long-term schedule, but next up for Starfield is The Elder Scrolls 6, which itself isn't expected to be released until at least 2018. Given that it's not, don't expect it to be released for many years.
Wesley is IGN's UK News Editor. Find @wyp100 on Twitter. Wesley can be contacted at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.