One of the things that video games have over other properties when an adaptation comes out to TV or to theaters is that if the ‘casual viewer’ likes the experience, they can immediately go out and get something else associated with the franchise. By that, we mean they can go and get one of the games associated with the property that they just watched. We’ve seen it from adaptations done by Naughty Dog and Nintendo, and now, Bethesda can definitively be put on that list. We have already noted before how the Fallout TV Series was not just a success but also led to big sales numbers across the series’ video games. However, the success doesn’t end there.
Why is that? Simply put, the franchise isn’t just in the video game space; it’s in the tabletop space, too! In the UK, publisher Modiphius talked with BoardGameWire and noted that the “core books” for their TTRPGs set within the Bethesda universe were emphatically sold out before the Fallout TV Series arrived on Amazon Prime Video:
“The [RPG] core books sold out in the lead-up to the show’s premiere – much quicker than expected – we are in the process of restocking and it’s currently available to pre-order. We had a similar run on Fallout: Wasteland Warfare Two-Player Starter Sets, which we should have back in stock in the next couple of weeks. We attended Salute 51 recently and people were really interested in our forthcoming Fallout: Factions skirmish game, and the Fallout TV minis. We had some early stock of the TV minis there and they sold out within an hour and half of the doors opening.”
That’s really quick! But then again, that shows not only how good the adaptation was but how eager fans were to “dive back into that world” in any way they could, even if that meant simply doing a tabletop game with friends.
Modiphius even noted that their online sales had more than doubled, and they were already sold out pre-order-wise for things that were scheduled to come out later this year!
So what does this tell us? It’s easy to parse out! If TV or movie companies take the time, do the work, and understand the world and characters they’re bringing to life, good things will happen! The TV show was renewed within a week of its premiere, the video games are getting new highs in gamer count, and everything associated with Fallout is selling in bulk!
Could you imagine that happening across multiple franchises? That’d be quite a sight.
