Fallout 76, Bethesda’s multiplayer survival spin on its cherished post-apocalyptic IP, has surpassed 13.5 million total players. After years of ardently clawing back the credibility lost by an abysmal initial reception,Fallout 76has arrived at a good place, with steady growth, well-received content patches, and refined quality of content many now consider worthy of theFalloutpedigree.
Released in October 2018,Fallout 76was Bethesda’s vision of players surviving alongside one another in an irradiated West Virginia. At launch, that vision was mired in game-breaking bugs, a general lack of meaningful objectives, questionable design decisions, and the controversial absence of human NPCs. Facing average reviews, manyFalloutfans predicted the game was doomed, but Bethesda responded with tweaks, redesigns, bug fixes, and new things to do viaFallout 76’scontent patches.
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Bethesda released its year-end report onFallout 76,boasting an updated figure for a total player count of 13.5 million. This shows a half-million boost ofFallout 76players since its last report in October. While the total player count often belies the concurrent player count (Steam Charts reports an average of 7,000 concurrentFallout 76PC players over the course of 2022), the numbers are encouraging for Bethesda. What could have been yet another tale of a game dying a quick death, its servers unceremoniously spun down during what should have been its prime,Fallout 76has now become somewhat of a cult classic.
With the advent of early access and live-service model games, there have beenseveral cases similar toFallout 76’s,where developers have overpromised and under-delivered, then had to dig themselves out of a hole to get their games back into the good graces of gamers. Perhaps the most famous case was Hello Game’sNo Man’s Sky, which was missing multiple promised features at launch. The resulting effort to fix their game stands as a shining example of developers righting their wrongs. Other cases includeFinal Fantasy 14’scomplete teardown and overhaul,Diablo 3’smassive design shift away from the predatory real-money auction house, andDestiny’sgear system rework and content infusion after what many considered a bare-bones release.
Fallout 76has a passionate fan base, and Bethesda has shown no signs of slowing down its support for the game.For those turned off by the initial reviews back in 2018, now is a great time to dive in and find out howFallout 76has reached its 13.5 million total player count landmark.
Fallout 76is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
