This Is the Best Selling Video Game of 2015
Activision Blizzard's Call of Duty Black Ops 3 is no longer the biggest entertainment launch of 2015. Bethesda's Fallout 4 sold 12 million copies and generated over 750 million in its first 24 hours at retail on Nov. 10. Those numbers obliterate the over 550 million in 72 hours that Activision-owned developer Treyarch earned with Call of Duty Black Ops 3. Yet while Activision has done a great job of turning Call of Duty into a mainstream game franchise that most people, including nongamers, recognize, the Fallout franchise is one with dedicated gamers but little pop culture crossover. In Fallout 4, gamers play the sole survivor of Vault 111 and enter a world destroyed by nuclear war. The game has been designed as an open world adventure, allowing players to craft their own character and embark on a unique exploration of the New England Wasteland. SuperData Research CEO Joost van Dreunen has been a fan of the Fallout franchise since day one because of its unique aesthetic and experience. "Its popularity seems to come from an odd blend of narrative and action," van Dreunen says. "As the franchise has grown more mature over the years, it has inevitably attracted a larger player base, but its popularity among livestreamers on Twitch and YouTube has further accelerated its momentum.", Schramm says the company's new strategy of officially announcing Fallout 4 after four years of development and then shipping it five months later could impact both the way ZeniMax markets franchises in the future as well as the entire games industry. "ZeniMax and other companies may build AAA schedules in the future to surprise players with more finished titles from trusted studios, rather than showing relatively unfinished work early," Schramm says.