For two days, Fallout Shelter earned more than Candy Crush
Bethesda's mobile game set in the Fallout universe skyrocketed to the top three grossing apps in the iTunes app store within days of its release.
Bethesda's surprise announcement at last week's E3 showcase is paying off for the developer in a pretty big way: For two days in its launch week, it sat at the number-three top-grossing app on the iTunes app store, according to App Annie data.
Ahead of it were free-to-play multiplayer strategy titles Clash of Clans in first position and Game of War: Fire Age in second. Most interestingly, however, Fallout Shelter dislodged King.com's Candy Crush Saga from a position in the top-three highest-grossing games the US for the first time since January 2013.
For the period that includes June 16 and June 17, Bethesda's town management simulation occupied the number three spot, while on June 15, 16, 17 and 18 it was the most downloaded game across the US, the UK, Canada and Australia.
Bethesda announced the launch of Fallout Shelter on June 15 during the developer's E3 gaming expo presentation. It's noteworthy in the free-to-play space in that it has no paywall timers at all, and the only item you can buy in the game for real money is lunch boxes, which contain a variety of weapons, outfits, Dwellers and Caps (in-game currency).
Lunch boxes are also available as rewards for completing objectives, which means purchasing them is completely optional, and players are not penalised or forced to stop playing for not doing so.
"Don't worry, there are no paywall timers, you don't need an internet connection. You build something, it's instantly built. Again, no internet connection, you can play anywhere," Bethesda VP Pete Hines said during the presentation.
"We do let you buy more lunch boxes if you want more random loot, but the whole goal of this game was to do something we'd really want to play on our phones, something that would make us smile and with more depth than what we were seeing."
Fallout Shelter's revenues in its launch week are unavailable, but according to Think Gaming, estimates put current Candy Crush Saga revenues at around $946,422 daily.
Fallout Shelter is currently out for iOS, and is in development for Android.