Fallout games surge in popularity as the Amazon Prime TV show proves a hit with fans old and new

Fallout 5
(Image credit: Bethesda)

Several games in the Fallout series have seen a spike in player activity on PC following the recently released Fallout TV show

The games in question include Fallout 3, Fallout 4, Fallout 76, and Fallout: New Vegas - which have all seen a steady rise in concurrent players since the show's release on April 12. 

For example, Fallout 4's Steam DB page shows that the action RPG's player count doubled between April 10 and 12 - jumping from around 10,000 concurrent players to 20,000 in just a day. This number quickly climbed to around 35,000, then 58,000, before peaking at over 83,000 on April 14 as more people presumably tuned in. 

Similar patterns can be found in Fallout 3, specifically the Game of the Year Edition, which had a few hundred concurrent players before the show's release but quickly gained a few thousand by April 14. One of the most beloved entries in the series, Fallout: New Vegas, also saw a steady rise in players and peaked at just under 20,000 in the last 24 hours when it was averaging a few thousand players before.

Even Fallout 76 has seen an influx of players, so much so that it gained a new all-time player peak less than 24 hours ago - jumping from around 10,000 - 15,000 concurrent players to its new peak of just under 40,000 earlier today on April 15. Although the show has likely encouraged this increase, it's worth noting that this also lines up with Fallout 76's free week that took place between April 11 - 18.

Fans of the Amazon show have clearly either been persuaded to give the games a go for the first time or sent fans returning to their favorite installment. This data only shows players that access the game through Steam though, meaning there could be even more players on the likes of PS5 or Xbox Series X/S.

One person who definitely hasn't contributed to those numbers is actor Walton Goggins, who played Cooper Howard aka The Ghoul in the Fallout series, and intentionally chose not to play the Fallout games - even after getting the job. 

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Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at 12DOVE before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.