Fallout Shelter released on Android today, and you can download it now from the Google Play store.
The mobile spin-off from the postapocalyptic Fallout role-playing series took everyone by surprise back in June when it earned $5.1M during its first two weeks on the Apple App Store. Its gentle approach to monetization — in-app purchases are purely optional, and no timers restrict gameplay — showed how traditional publishers can get a piece of the $30B mobile games market without annoying their hardcore fans.
Publisher Bethesda Softworks has released extra content for the game to tie in with this Android release. Both iOS and Android versions now have a robot butler called Mister Handy and new enemies to deal with, such as burrowing mole rats.
Fallout Shelter even beat the perennially popular Candy Crush to the No. 3 spot on the top-grossing iOS game chart during June. It’s slipped down the rankings now, but this Android release — and the new in-game content — should reinvigorate interest in the mobile title and help keep the Fallout licence in the front of people’s minds in the lead up to Fallout 4’s November release.
GamesBeat awarded the iOS version of Fallout Shelter a score of 95/100, saying, “Fallout Shelter is an endlessly engaging mobile title that gives you plenty to do without overwhelming you with menus and meters. It has both of those things aplenty, but you’re always in control.”