Fallout 76 Sees a 500%+ Player Boost
In the wake of its massive TV show, players have been flocking to their platform of choice to delve back into the world of Fallout. This has seen droves of fans increasing the play count for every game in the franchise massively. Fallout 3 went from an average player count of around 1,000 at the start of April to a phenomenal peak of 11,471 this past weekend. Similarly, player counts for Fallout 4 have boosted the game to over 100,000 compared to 18,000 before the launch of the show. The most notable of these player hikes, however, has to be for the only multiplayer game in the series: Fallout 76.
Image by Bethesda
The most controversial entry in the series by a landslide, Fallout 76 launched back in 2018 to terrible reviews from critics and fans alike. With glitches, performance issues and the complete lack of any NPCs to interact with, this prequel to the rest of the Fallout franchise was deemed a complete failure. Since then, however, the game has had somewhat of a redemption arc. With the Wastelanders update, characters were added to populate the world and with other content drops including the return to The Pitt of Fallout 3 fame, a lot of Fallout 76 players now swear by the game. Until now, the game had waddled the line between around 10,000-20,000 players but this number has risen enormously since the TV show dropped- reaching a now all-time peak of 73,368.
Image by Bethesda
With so many people returning or entering Fallout 76’s depiction of post-apocalyptic Appalachia, the game has exploded in popularity to levels far above its peak at launch. Now that a lot of the worst parts of the game have been ironed out, its largely an enjoyable experience as evidenced by its mostly positive 75% score on Steam. While not the best game in the series to start with, its managed to pull a Cyberpunk 2077 and drum up interest in itself long after its disastrous launch. With the nineteenth major update ‘Skyline Valley’ promising a whole new area to explore (alongside new enemies, weapons and characters of course) coming in June, maybe its time to give Fallout 76 another chance- even if its still far from the peaks of the series.
