Fallout Shelter Crushes Candy Crush

Candy Crush Saga is generally viewed as a highly-addictive, but unoriginal game that survives on microtransactions and rewarding gameplay. With that in mind, it comes as on surprise that the game has dominated the top 4 highest-grossing games of the iOS app store for years.

While the creation of the Fallout Shelter mobile game surprised many, it's not a surprise that the overwhelming popularity of the Fallout franchise has spread to the iOS title, too. In fact, it's become so popular so fast that it's dethroned Candy Crush Saga from the iOS its spot amongst the highest-earning iOS apps.

Fallout Shelter was announced at Bethesda's pre-E3 conference on Sunday evening, alongside the Fallout 4 gameplay reveal trailer and the announcement of a special Fallout 4 pip-boy edition. Surprisingly, executive Todd Howard made it clear that the game was not going to be like most freemium mobile games: there would be no paywall, and in-game transactions would be minimal.

Despite this, the game has skyrocketed in popularity and earnings, reaching the status of most-downloaded free app in all of the US and UK on its very first day of availability, according to App Annie. Within one day of being on the market, Fallout Shelter conquered Candy Crush Saga and became the 3rd-highest grossing game on the iOS App Store, which it maintained until Thursday, dropping down to 4th-highest with Candy Crush Saga falling to 5th.

Fallout Shelter Side View Candy Crush Saga (1)

Unfortunately, it's not possible to pin down the exact amount of money that Bethesda has netted from Fallout Shelter just yet. However, in King's last earnings report for Candy Crush Saga, the game was netting about $2 million per day. Even if Candy Crush Saga is earning less than that at this time, it's reasonable to assume that Fallout Shelter is raking in some serious profits. With any luck, this will encourage Bethesda to speed up its development process of the Android version of Fallout Shelter, which has only been said to be released "within the next few months."

Fallout Shelter is a fun game for Fallout fans to bide their time while they eagerly await November 10th to roll around and Fallout 4 to be released. Moreover, Bethesda created it as a game with integrity that doesn't nickle and dime its players to get a competitive edge or simply to progress to the next level. There's no telling how long the game will hold onto the spot above Candy Crush Saga, but it's an impressive feat worthy of the legendary series.

Fallout Shelter is available now for iOS devices, with an Android version slated for the future.

Source: App Annie