Skip to main content
VentureBeat Homepage
  • Events
  • GamesBeat
  • Data Pipeline
  • GamesBeat Summit Next 2022
  • Account Settings
  • Log Out
  • Become a Member
  • Sign In
VentureBeat Homepage

GamesBeat

VentureBeat

  • AR/VR
  • Big Data
  • Cloud
  • Commerce
  • DataDecisionMakers
  • Dev
  • Enterprise
  • Entrepreneur
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Mobile
  • Security
  • Social
  • Transportation

Follow

follow us on Twitter follow us on Facebook follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS

The Machine

  • AI
  • Machine Learning
  • Computer Vision
  • Natural Language Processing
  • Robotic Process Automation

Follow

Follow us on RSS

GamesBeat

  • Games
  • Esports
  • PC Gaming

Follow

follow us on Twitter Follow us on RSS

Events

  • Upcoming
  • Media Partner
  • Webinars

General

  • Newsletters
  • Got a news tip?
  • Advertise
  • Press Releases
  • Guest Posts
  • Contribute to DataDecisionMakers
  • Deals
  • Data Pipeline
  • Jobs
  • VB Lab
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy

Join the GamesBeat Community

Free: Join the GamesBeat Community for access to 3 premium posts and unlimited videos per month.

Learn More

Sign up with your business e-mail to continue with ticket purchase

Please wait...

Share

  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • VentureBeat Homepage
  • Newsletters
  • Events

Fallout Shelter is available on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch for free — tonight

Dean Takahashi@deantak
June 10, 2018 7:55 PM
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
Overseeing a vault is stressful work.
Image Credit: Bethesda

Interested in learning what's next for the gaming industry? Join gaming executives to discuss emerging parts of the industry this October at GamesBeat Summit Next. Learn more.


More than 120 million people have played Fallout Shelter, the mobile game created by Bethesda as part of its Fallout post-apocalypse franchise. And tonight, Bethesda Game Studios said it has published Fallout Shelter on the PlayStation 4 and the Nintendo Switch. The game is available for free, and it will presumably have in-app items you can purchase with real money.

Todd Howard, the head of Bethesda Game Studios, made the announcement at the Bethesda Showcase event ahead of the 2018 Electronic Entertainment Expo.

Back in 2015, Bethesda shipped more than 12 million copies of the post-apocalypse video game Fallout 4 during the holiday season — a stellar achievement. But Fallout Shelter, the mobile game released in June 2015 during a fan event at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, managed to hit more than 12 million downloads in a day, according to Bethesda creative director Todd Howard in an earlier interview with GamesBeat.

Fallout Shelter went on to hit 120 million downloads, far outpacing the reach of the console games in the series. In fact, Howard said that is more than all of Bethesda’s other games combined.

Event

MetaBeat 2022

MetaBeat will bring together metaverse thought leaders to give guidance on how metaverse technology will transform the way all industries communicate and do business on October 3-4 in San Francisco, CA.

Register Here

That’s an astonishing result, and it presents high-end game studios, known as triple-A game makers, with a quandary: Should they continue to work on titles like Fallout 4, which took a team of 100 people more than four years to develop before it launched last November? That game earned a Game of the Year award at the DICE Awards, the Oscars of gaming, and it generated an estimated $750 million in sales.

Or should they pour more resources into mobile games, which can generate $500 million to $1.5 billion per year if they break into the top-three grossing list, as Fallout Shelter did for a brief time during the summer of 2015. Fallout Shelter was designed to draw attention to Fallout 4, but it wasn’t made to last. Its success surprised everyone, including Bethesda.

Or do both? And that’s what Bethesda is doing, as it also discussed triple-A productions such as Fallout 76 and Rage 2 today.

Now, a few years later, Bethesda is taking another swing. I hope that it has learned some lessons about how to properly monetize mobile games and keep them going through live operations.

GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Learn more about membership.

Author
Dean Takahashi
Topics
Business GamesBeat Mobile

MetaBeat 2022

Join metaverse thought leaders in San Francisco on October 3-4 to learn how metaverse technology will transform the way all industries communicate and do business.

Register Here

GamesBeat Summit On-Demand Library

Head over to our on-demand library to view sessions from the live event and rewatch your favorite sessions from our virtual days.

Watch Now

Search jobs and find your dream job today.

Get Hired
  • GamesBeat
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on LinkedIn
  • Follow us on RSS
  • VB Lab
  • Newsletters
  • Events
  • Special Issue
  • Product Comparisons
  • Jobs
  • About
  • Contact
  • Careers
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service

© 2022 VentureBeat. All rights reserved.

×

We may collect cookies and other personal information from your interaction with our website. For more information on the categories of personal information we collect and the purposes we use them for, please view our Notice at Collection.