‘Fallout 4’ Shipped 12 Million At Launch, Pip-Boy Edition Fastest Selling Collector’s Edition

Bethesda announced stellar Fallout 4 launch numbers on Friday with 12 million copies shipped, “representing sales in excess of $750 million worldwide.” Not bad for a PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC release squeezed in-between the launches of Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 and Star Wars: Battlefront.

The 12 million copies shipped and $750 million numbers are a bit misleading as Bethesda declined to give numbers on how many were actually sold-to consumers. Thus, the dollar figure only represents the potential revenue of Fallout 4. However, the company notes that retailers are reporting high demand with more copies of the game already being sent out.

“Major retailers have informed Bethesda of the tremendous consumer interest in Fallout 4, with some noting it was the most pre-ordered game this year,” Bethesda announced in a press release. “In addition, the Fallout 4 Pip-Boy Edition was the fastest-selling collector’s edition of any game in history at leading retailers.”

“Following the release, Bethesda was advised that launch day sales at some of the leading retail chains were the largest of any game released this year,” the company explained. “Bethesda is now shipping more Fallout 4 units to retailers to meet ongoing market demand.”

Fallout 4 also saw strong digital sales on all three platforms, though Bethesda declined to give specific numbers beyond noting the game broke the concurrent number of users record on Steam previously held by Grand Theft Auto V with 470,000 recorded. The PC version did see approximately 1.2 million copies sold on Steam though, according to tracking site SteamSpy, which now shows nearly 1.5 million sold as of November 13.

Fallout 4 had around 1.2M owners on Steam on day 1. It will take 3 full days for my site graphs to catch up, sorry.

— Steam Spy (@Steam_Spy) November 11, 2015

As GameSpot notes, the Fallout 4 sales figures are a marked improvement over The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Bethesda’s previous effort shipped 7 million copies to retailers and sold through approximately half that many. Assuming Fallout 4 sells through at least half of its shipped numbers, that is 6 million copies sold to PS4, Xbox One, and PC gamers. This is an impressive number considering the number of consoles on the market is significantly less than the number of PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles at the time of the Skyrim launch.

Grand Theft Auto V still holds all sales records for a launch. As the Guinness World Records confirmed, GTA V sold through 11.21 million units in its first 24 hours and generated $815.7 million in revenue. The game smashed through the $1 billion mark after just three days on the market.

For comparison, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 recorded $550 million in worldwide sales following its launch this past Friday, November 6. The sales numbers for Black Ops 3 represents copies sold to consumers.

Meanwhile, Microsoft reported $400 million in sales for the Halo 5: Guardians launch. While the dollar figure represents sold-through numbers, it came with a healthy amount of spin because the figure included sales of Halo 5 Xbox One console bundles and controllers.

Expect to hear more sales numbers for Fallout 4 as it will likely continue to sell well through the holiday season. The major game publishers are all jockeying for the position of top game sold and we still have Star Wars: Battlefront waiting in the wings for a launch next week before the madness of Black Friday starts.

Did you purchase Fallout 4 at launch? What do you think of the game so far? Sound off in the comments below.

[Image via Bethesda]