Fallout 4 leads player count resurgence on Steam thanks to Prime series boost

Those vaults are getting overcrowded

Bethesda Softworks

The Fallout series on Amazon Prime Video not only got a great reception from fans, it seems to have pushed a lot of players to revisit the games, resulting in a resurging player count on Steam.

Fallout 4, released on November 10, 2015, is leading the charge: It reached 83,491 concurrent players at its peak over the weekend – that’s the first time since 2016 the game has crossed a concurrent user count of 80,000 on the platform. At the time of writing, over 33,000 players are exploring the wastelands, according to SteamDB.

This boost was enough to propel Fallout 4 into Steam’s top 20 most-played games over the past weekend, beating the likes of Path of Exile, Warframe, and Elden Ring.

Fallout 76 followed the example of Fallout 4, setting a new all-time record for itself with 39,455 concurrent players at its peak. Its previous zenith – reached shortly after release – fell short of 33,000 users. It certainly helps that the game can be played for free on Steam at the moment.

2010 spin-off Fallout: New Vegas reached 19,505 concurrent users over the weekend, marking its best showing since the end of 2015.

It’s a similar story – albeit on a much smaller scale – for the even older entries into the series: Fallout 1, 2, and 3 surged to at least double their usual player counts.

Obviously, a TV show boosting the popularity of a video game is no great revelation – it’s a tried and tested concept. Many anime series are made to sell manga, toys, or games as well. There is a bit of a trend for Western success stories in this department recently, however: Cyberpunk 2077, League of Legends, and The Last of Us all benefited greatly from their adaptations. 

With Fallout joining this list, one thing has become clearer than ever: Developers stand to gain a lot from having their IP made into a good – and “good” is the key word – show adaptation. Having something like the Halo show out there hasn’t done that struggling franchise any good, to name an example of a mediocre attempt at the formula.