Bethesda's reinvention of the classic Fallout IP took the game industry by storm in October with well over 600K sold in the U.S. alone. Fallout 3 is blowing things up in a good way.by David Radd on Wednesday, December 03, 2008
The success of certain games cannot simply be measured by their sales level – a good example being the Fallout franchise. The series, which under Interplay had two official incarnations and two spin-offs, was acclaimed for its unique setting, mature dialog, and yes, genuine ROLE-PLAYING that allowed for a wide variety of choices and moral outcomes. Years after the games' release, players still tracked down copies of Fallout 1 and 2 to get a taste of the post-apocalyptic RPGs. The devotion the games inspired made the general fandom reluctant to accept the canon validity of the side-story Fallout Tactics, while Fallout: Brotherhood of the Steel was met with downright hostility by many.
So with that in mind, some were openly skeptical when Bethsoft acquired the IP rights to the Fallout franchise from Interplay. While the developer has an acclaimed background in RPGs with the Elder Scrolls franchise, none of the principle developers of the old Fallout titles would work on Fallout 3, and retro-future America is about as far from the fantasy realm of Tamriel as can be imagined. Still, the game hit store shelves in October and was quickly accepted, if not by the fandom, then certainly by the gaming public at large. We take a closer look at the game's early success.
That's worth a lot of caps
According to The NPD Group, Fallout 3 was the third and fourteenth best selling title overall for the month of October. This made the game the third best selling PS3 SKU and second best selling Xbox 360 title. It was also the best selling PC title overall during the same period. Fallout 3 sold a total of 610,000 copies during October, and 375,000 of those copies were on the Xbox 360.
Sales for the game have been good intentionally as well, with Chart Track reporting that Fallout 3 debuted at number one in the U.K.. These sales results put the game above the first month results of Bethsoft's last big release, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblvion, which sold a little over a half million units its first month. If early reports are to be believed, Fallout 3 has already outsold all previous incarnations of the franchise combined.
So with that in mind, some were openly skeptical when Bethsoft acquired the IP rights to the Fallout franchise from Interplay. While the developer has an acclaimed background in RPGs with the Elder Scrolls franchise, none of the principle developers of the old Fallout titles would work on Fallout 3, and retro-future America is about as far from the fantasy realm of Tamriel as can be imagined. Still, the game hit store shelves in October and was quickly accepted, if not by the fandom, then certainly by the gaming public at large. We take a closer look at the game's early success.
That's worth a lot of caps
According to The NPD Group, Fallout 3 was the third and fourteenth best selling title overall for the month of October. This made the game the third best selling PS3 SKU and second best selling Xbox 360 title. It was also the best selling PC title overall during the same period. Fallout 3 sold a total of 610,000 copies during October, and 375,000 of those copies were on the Xbox 360.
Sales for the game have been good intentionally as well, with Chart Track reporting that Fallout 3 debuted at number one in the U.K.. These sales results put the game above the first month results of Bethsoft's last big release, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblvion, which sold a little over a half million units its first month. If early reports are to be believed, Fallout 3 has already outsold all previous incarnations of the franchise combined.
No doubt driving some of these sales were the extensive offerings for consumers. Bethesda went all out with a Collector's Edition that featured a bonus "making of" DVD, a concept art book, and a five-inch Vault Boy Bobblehead in a "Vault-Tec" lunchbox and a Survival Edition that also includes a model of the PIP-Boy 3000 that functions as a digital clock. The U.K. also got a Limited Edition that had a Brotherhood of Steel Power Armor figurine.
SOURCE:gamedaily.com
