
The Fallout TV series has received widespread critical and audience acclaim, with 65M viewers and Amazon Prime’s 2nd most-watched show of all time. The show appears to have cracked the secret transmedia success formula: top-tier IP, backed by a six-figure budget, distribution through a 200M MAU network, and widespread critical acclaim. Consistent with the transmedia thesis, engagement with Fallout games has skyrocketed, with *all* games experiencing significant uplifts. However, price cuts have ended, and according to VG Insights, revenue is down 50%+ from two-week highs in titles like Fallout 76. While the uplift has yet to return to equilibrium, a generous guess might land $40M in incremental revenue across the franchise before returning to a steady state. The final revenue impact may tally north of $50M. And yet, hailed as a transmedia success, Fallout instead shows the exact opposite: if this is the best transmedia offers, then the concept is creatively bankrupt.
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