Fallout 4, New Vegas Steam Players Double After S2 Premiere

The "Fallout Effect" has officially returned in full force. Following the mid-December 2025 premiere of Fallout Season 2 on Amazon Prime Video, the iconic video game franchise has experienced a dramatic resurgence on Steam. Much like the massive boom caused by the first season in 2024, viewers are flocking back to the digital wasteland, effectively doubling the daily concurrent player counts for major titles in the series. While the annual Steam Winter Sale offered deep discounts, the data suggests the TV show is the primary driver, as other discounted RPGs did not see similar engagement spikes.

Data from SteamDB, which tracks video game analytics, reveals that Fallout 4 has been a primary beneficiary of this hype. In the weeks leading up to the show's premiere in mid-December, the 2015 title averaged around 20,000 concurrent players. By early January 2026, that number had jumped to over 40,000. This resurgence has also pushed Fallout 4 up the charts on portable devices; it climbed five spots to hit 9th place in the weekly Steam Deck play rankings, underscoring the growing preference for playing the massive RPG on handheld devices.

The impact is perhaps even more pronounced for Fallout: New Vegas. With the show’s second season taking place in the Mojave Wasteland, the exact setting of the 2010 cult classic, the game has seen a surge of renewed attention from players wanting to explore the original source material. Before the show’s return on December 16, the game averaged roughly 8,000 daily players.

TV Show Hype Outperforms Winter Sale Discounts

Meanwhile, the weeks following the launch, that figure (8000) climbed to nearly 20,000 daily players. Fans appeared keen to compare the live-action version of New Vegas with the original game's lore, driving traffic numbers that the title hasn't seen in years, as reported by PC Gamer. 

The ripple effect has extended to the franchise's multiplayer and classic titles as well. Fallout 76 saw its active player base rise from a usual average of 10,000 to 20,000, up to approximately 30,000 active users. Even the older titles saw significant percentage gains. The original Fallout game saw its player count jump from a few hundred to over 800, while Fallout 3 doubled its dedicated base from roughly 100 to nearly 200 daily concurrents. Additionally, Fallout Shelter saw a massive spike, driven by a timely content update that added Season 2 characters, such as Lucy and the Ghoul, alongside new New Vegas-themed content.

While the Steam Winter Sale certainly played a role by offering these titles at lower prices, PC Gamer also noted that the "Fallout Effect" is the main catalyst. Other popular RPGs like Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim also received deep discounts during the same period, but did not experience the same drastic doubling of engagement. 

With the Season 2 finale scheduled for Feb 4, 2026, Bethesda Game Studios continues to successfully bridge the gap between their games and streaming media, keeping the franchise at the center of pop culture.