When the massively multiplayer online video game Fallout 76 became available in 2018, it was famously derided by critics and fans alike as an unfinished, buggy mess not up to the standards of the long-running Fallout video game series. In time, developer Bethesda fixed a lot of the problems people had with the game, and it got a new lease on life.
But what really supercharged interest was the Fallout TV series that dropped on Amazon Prime Video on April 10. Set in the same post-apocalyptic landscape as all the Fallout games, the TV show had the same grim view of humanity and goofy sense of humor that had made the franchise a hit for years, and people who watched the show flocked back to the games to prolong their stay in the wasteland. According to Variety, concurrent player counts for Fallout 76 have jumped to over five million, a 600% increase from before the TV show premiered.
“It’s kind of been sneaky popular for a while — but not to this level and it’s just been really great for the for the whole studio,” said Bethesda director Todd Howard, who oversees the Fallout franchise. More people are also playing games like Fallout 3, Fallout 4, Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout Shelter. Howard says it's "beyond anything I’ve ever seen in my 30 years of doing this. Having an event that brings that many people into games that you have and who have never played your games before, that’s a big thing. New players who have never played a game or never played one of our games. It’s a really, really unique moment.”
Video games will eat Hollywood alive and we'll love it
It's a big moment not just for Fallout, but for movies and TV shows based on video games in general. For years, video game adaptations were seen as schlocky cash grabs not to be taken seriously, but lately they've become prestigious hits. The HBO series The Last of Us won eight Emmy awards, The Super Mario Bros. Movie made over a billion dollars at the box office, and now people are enjoying the Fallout show so much they're being funneled back to the games.
This is an important turning point in what I predict will be a massive front of video game movies and shows to be made in the coming years, dominating the landscape like superheroes dominated it throughout the 2010s. Symbiosis is key. While successful superhero movies may have funneled fans back to the comics those movies are based on, successful video game adaptations can get them interested in the games themselves, and the video game industry is much bigger than the comic book industry.
This means producers will be incentivized to make video game adaptations as good as possible, because the better the adaptation, the more likely the viewer will spend more on the games. Despite the cynicism and greed powering this machine, that's ultimately good news for viewers at home, who should have their picks of great shows and movies to watch.
As for the Fallout show, a second season is in the works. Howard is on board as a producer, although Jonathan Nolan is the one steering the ship. “The one thing about TV that Jonah told me from day one is it’s about finding the characters," Howard said. "And I think it’s really awesome how these characters have resonated with the audience. And so I think there’s still stories to tell there. There’s so many great characters — I love Norm and Chet, I love the two of them in every scene. And obviously we have the Ghoul and Lucy and Maximus. But there’s so many great characters that have a lot of stories left to tell.”
And of course, Howard and company are "always planning" more games.
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