How Amazon Prime’s ‘Fallout’ series highlights the power of post-apocalyptic video game IP

Amazon Prime’s “Fallout” television adaptation has struck a chord with streaming viewers, becoming the second major live-action video game adaptation to break through to a wider audience after 2023’s “The Last of Us.” As film and TV studios race to adapt popular video games to the big screen, post-apocalyptic fiction could be the secret to mainstream success.

Amazon has not shared official viewership figures for its “Fallout” series, but social platforms have been awash with buzz about the show, which depicts an alternate future America desolated by nuclear war. Critics have lauded “Fallout,” landing it a 94 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Given the show’s reported production budget of $153 million, at least one Prime Video executive is likely breathing a sigh of relief as they scroll through all the effusive praise.

Amazon is going full throttle on the marketing of the series. It’s previewing it at movie theaters, blasting out ads to users of its cloud gaming service and even prompting every user who visits the Amazon storefront homepage to “Watch the new show ‘Fallout.’” It’s Amazon Prime’s first major video game adaptation, and the company is leveraging the full power of its worldwide network to help it succeed.

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