Fallout 4 on Steam: Post-Apocalyptic Paradox

The venerable Fallout 4, first released for PC by Bethesda on November 10, 2015, is the definition of true irony. Because while the number of players on Steam continues to rise in the lead-up to the next graphics and performance update, which will be released on May 13 for all platforms, the ratings and reviews for those same players are now only getting worse. While the trend in the last few weeks is clearly visible and reviews from the last 30 days have been only 77% positive, the overall rating has now dropped to 83% (“Very Positive”). The trend is still “downward”, as shown by the distribution of reviews Offers.

Source: Steam (Screenshot: PCGH)



But sometimes this is only half the truth. Because even if many old players justifiably (or not entirely unjustifiably) accused the developer when the next-gen update was published…

“Bethesda has thrown the community into the trash!”

…Fallout 4's player numbers, boosted by the Fallout series on Amazon Prime, tell a very different story. Fallout 4 is currently more popular than it has been for a long time. Currently, approximately 134,000 players are playing the post-apocalyptic role-playing game on Steam at the same time. As current surveys from SteamDB show, this is enough for sixth place in the overall ranking of Valve's game distribution platform. Many new releases dream of these player numbers on release day.

Source: SteamDB (Screenshot: PCGH)



If the current trend continues, Fallout 4 will likely climb other places in the rankings. But despite this, the players are quite exceptional for this old single-player role-playing game.

Fallout 4: Bethesda announces the next graphics update

The fact that the most popular mods for Fallout are now those that either prevent the next-gen update or negate it entirely, which have been rejected by a large portion of the community, speaks to the paradoxical situation surrounding Bethesda's venerable action RPG.

Fallout 4 Next Gen Update: Community Revenge

But not only Fallout 4, but also Fallout 76, Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas took advantage of the Prime series and gained popularity. Season 2 will likely do the rest and perhaps increase the “hype.”