Fallout Shelter is the Most Played Fallout Game Ever

Bethesda's creative director Todd Howard reveals that Fallout Shelter is officially the most played Fallout game in the series with over 4 billion play sessions.

Bethesda's creative director Todd Howard spoke today at the D.I.C.E 2016 Summit and got fans excited when he announced that the studio is working on three new "big and crazy" projects. Howard then switched focus onto the Fallout series and revealed some surprising news regarding Fallout Shelter. Although Fallout 4 was a massive success, the game's profile pales in comparison to its mobile sibling. According to Howard, there have been 4 billion sessions played of Fallout Shelter, making it far and away the most played Fallout title in the series:

“We did a mobile game Fallout Shelter. There were four billion sessions. It was the most-played of any Fallout game. We wanted to do something smaller. It exploded. Everyone is playing games now. It is part of their everyday experiences.”

The success of Fallout Shelter has come as bit of a surprise ever since it was announced at Bethesda's E3 2015 conference. While the game was expected to ride the wave of Fallout's overwhelming popularity, not many expected Fallout Shelter to immediately dethrone Candy Crush Saga from its spot as the App Store's highest-earning app. With over 70 million play sessions a day and $5.1 million earned in just two weeks of availability, Fallout Shelter has been nothing short of an unqualified success for Bethesda.

This news of Fallout Shelter's success caps off what has been a triumphant few months for Fallout and Bethesda. The ball started rolling when Fallout 4's initial trailer reveal resulted in massive wave of anticipation and a huge sales spike for Fallout 3. But that sales spike was only the beginning, as everyone soon declared Fallout 4 one of 2015's best gaming experiences, which translated to a mind-boggling $750 million in revenue.

While things have been a bit quiet recently on the Fallout Shelter front in light of Fallout 4's DLC announcement, there's a possibility that additional updates could be coming for the mobile game. Throughout 2015, Bethesda supported Fallout Shelter by releasing a stream of updates and a host of holiday-themed décor for Thanksgiving and Halloween. With Easter coming up, who's to say that the developers don't have something up their sleeve that involves the Easter Bunny?

The success of the Fallout series across consoles and the mobile market has undoubtedly marked 2015 as the year of Fallout, but with some substantial DLC coming for Fallout 4, Fallout Shelter still being played by everyone with a mobile phone, and three new projects still in the pipeline, there's no reason why 2016 can't be just as big of a year for Bethesda.

Fallout Shelter is currently available for iOS and Android devices.