Fallout Shelter is coming to Xbox One and Windows 10 as an Xbox Play Anywhere title

By Jez Corden
last updated

Free-to-play mobile success story Fallout Shelter is coming to Xbox One and Windows 10 next week.

Surprise! Bethesda's free apocalypse management simulator is coming to Xbox One and Windows 10 on February 7th, 2017, complete with Xbox Play Anywhere support for cross-saves and purchases.

The UWP version of Fallout Shelter has been adapted for controllers and the big screen, allowing you to take your progression from the TV to your PC.

I know what you're going to ask, though. We have messaged both Bethesda and Microsoft to inquire about whether or not "Windows 10" also includes "10 Mobile." At this time, we can only hope.

What is Fallout Shelter?

Bethesda announced and launched Fallout Shelter at their pre-E3 briefing in 2015. The game has since become a runaway success story, addictively allowing players to manage an underground community of bunker-dwelling apocalypse survivors. Major Nelson revealed the upcoming Windows 10 and Xbox version on his blog, earlier today.

Since the game's launch, it has been updated numerous times with new features, supported by modest micropayment loot packs. Like the popular PC and console games (such as Fallout 4, Fallout Shelter has quests, allowing you to send your community out into the wastes to hunt down equipment, resources, and radioactive enemies. Maintaining a healthy vault forms the basis of play, maintaining people's happiness, basic needs, and even population growth.

It remains one of the most popular games on the iOS and Android app stores, and the game also made the leap to Win32 PC.

Fallout Shelter on Xbox has been reworked to support controllers and joins a growing list of games that support cloud-based progression and purchases between Xbox One and the Windows 10 Store.

As noted, there's no mention of whether or not Fallout Shelter will support Windows 10 Mobile. Major Nelson states that the game will support Xbox controllers, but makes no mention of touch support. There's a fair chance this is a port of the desktop version, leaving us without proper scaling for smaller tablets and mobile devices.

When (or if) Microsoft and Bethesda responds to our queries, we'll update this post to let you know on the status of Fallout Shelter for mobile devices. But, let's try not to be too optimistic.

Jez Corden
Jez Corden
Managing Editor

Jez Corden is the Managing Editor for Windows Central, focusing primarily on all things Xbox and gaming. Jez is known for breaking exclusive news and analysis as relates to the Microsoft ecosystem while being powered by caffeine. Follow on Twitter @JezCorden and listen to his Xbox Two podcast, all about, you guessed it, Xbox!

56 Comments
  • This released almost 1.5 year ago on iOS and Android. Crazy, still a good news. Better late than never.
  • "At this time, we can only hope".... That sentence made me really sad.
  • Made me sad writing it :(
  • How hard is it truly to not press the "mobile" button when they submit this app?! It's already built for mobile
  • Unsurprising, though, in a time where even Microsoft doesn't see the Windows 10 Mobile market as enough to develop games for.
  • This is fantastic either way.  It shows that at least some higher-end developers are hopefully putting their toes in the water and still giving Windows 10 a shot.  I would love for a WM10 version.  If there isn't one, it kind of pokes holes in the whole "unified platform" crap.
  • With Windows 10 on ARM in touching distance what's the point? They are clearly killing mobile OS.
  • "Touching distance" being a year at minimum? 
  • Not that much if you consider developing an App for the Plattform.
  • If every developer waited for Microsoft's "next big thing" we wouldn't even have the limited selection of apps that we have currently.  Not to mention that's going to require much more powerful hardware than we currently have.  Wait for an even more fragemented marketplace...
  • Very shortsighted....how exactly do you expect it to look on the phone screen? It needs to be W10M on your phone screen. W10M is much better for touch (Including smaller tablets) than the PC SKU in tablet mode. If they try and reboot the mobile side to use the PC start screen things will be very bad. Tablet mode/full screen start is really rough on PC still compared to the Mobile start screen
  • Does this mean, that I can finally play it on my 2in1 without screwing around with that clunky Bethesda Launcher, and (what most important is) with excellent touchscreen support? Yayy :D Btw, I'm also rooting for a W10M version.
  • This is AWESOME, If this is a "Play Anywhere" title then it must be UWP. I dare to hope I can play it on Mobile
  • UWP doesn't mean it will come to mobile. Gears 4 is UWP and isn't on mobile. 
  • This is slightly different given the difference in hardware requirements.  It SHOULD be a larger jump seeing an iOS game go from iOS to Xbox One than from iOS to WM10.  If it isn't going to WM10 it goes to show you how shamed we are.  Oh well.
  • Fair point. Time will tell. 
  • Is it though....? Where did you get that info. It's released via the store but it doesn't mean its using UWP APIs exclusively. Could easily be a "traditionally" developed game ready to launch on Steam on the future (without play anywhere) if they so decide
  • Play anywhere titles have to be UWP.
  • The Steam version has been out for at least 6 months now. But I might just buy this again from the store, just to get rid of steam from my SP4.
    Update: Just remembered, it wasn't on steam, it was via Bethesda's own store and launcher. Well, at least I can get rid of that launcher.
  • Oh boy, that launcher is soooo bad. And btw, I didn't ever understand why game launchers exist in the first place :D
  • It's true UWP doesn't mean it will release on Mobile, but can you say 100% for sure Gears 4 uses UWP APIs only. Any Windows PC app can be released in the store after all
  • Can't wait to play on Windows 10 - hopefully it doesn't need that dreadful Bethesda launcher to be installed?
  • I don't see why it would, since it'll just be a Store app
  • Ubisoft Steam games need Uplay so your argument is invalid
  • Windows store games running in a sandbox. Another launcher wouldn't be possible.
  • Technically a launcher would be possible (but wouldn't make sense and would be easy to work around and launch directly and may get stuck at certification)
  • Steam apps aren't UWP
  • WM10 - please, please, please! 😉
  • Would be great if I could transfer my Android saves to this... SPENT a lot of time and money on Fallout Shelter on my crappy Android tablet because of the lack of WM10 support...
  • There's a way to do this with the win32 version- So maybe it'll be with this new UWP as well.
  • WIth W10M support, this will be an instant buy. I don't even play it that  much but I believe in supporting the devs when they do stuff like this.
  • Isn't it free to play?
  • You realize that any ads or microtransactions in the game are money that goes to the devs right? Not to mention the numbers getting boosted by downloads.
  • It's confirmed to be free
    http://news.xbox.com/2017/02/03/fallout-shelter-coming-to-xbox-one-and-w...
  • Now I just want Hearthstone on mobile
  • I did read the article, I promise, but is this free?
  • All the other versions are free, with mic rotransactions, of course. So I assume, the W10 version will be free too.
  • yeah it's free, I should've mentioned that probably
  • My question has nothing to do with Windows Mobile; cause it's dead. My question is will I be able to transfer my save to W10/Xbox from the current PC version or will I have to start over for the THIRD TIME. Had to do it when PC released because there was no transfer from Android. I didn't mind so much because it gave me a reason to start over and do it better (I hadn't gotten very far), but now I've sunk hundreds of hours into the PC version, my vault is perfect, and my 141 dwellers are all max SPECIAL at level 1, level 50 now (kicked-out and replaced all my original dwellers).
  • To my knowledge there is no way for UWP's to access or utilize save files from Win32 games. So 99% chance you'll have to start over. The good news is that at least it'll sync saves between Xbox and PC.
  • They could put in an import feature for save games if they wanted. PC UWP apps can access any files as long as the user uses the file picker to choose the file. So it wouldn't be automatic but easy to do if they wanted to put in the option
  • True, but I don't think this extends to Play Anywhere titles due to the possible issues with the Xbox One version. I wouldn't mind being pleasantly surprised though.
  • But there was a way to transfer saves between droid and wib32. A bit difficult, but there was :D
  • You will have to start over probz.
  • I bought an iPod just for this game and stopped playing it because the iPod is too small and slow. I later downloaded it on my gaming PC; when made available, but it was a horrible win32 app. I would try again if becomes a UWP app!
  • Nice to see Play Anywhere slowly gain traction. Hope to see more games embrace it. It should have always been this way. Tired of companies' greed.
  • I think it probably has something to do with the approaching launch of Project Scorpio, which will presumably utilize UWP titles as a way to enable devs to build a game once and let it scale across the PC, Scorpio, and Xbox One with minimal tweaks. It's really just playing to their greed by lowering development costs; kudos to Microsoft for figuring out how to make their greed benefit us though!
  • UWP is being positioned as the primary development method for Scorpio.
  • You realise that most game developers are making very little profit on games right now. With increasing development costs, big name stores pushing used games over new... Look how many studios are shutting down... If anything, pushing for Play Anywhere feeds that greed because you cannot buy used digital copies and they cost next to nothing to get from the studio to the consumer. It's like people that moan about free to play games being a grindfest unless you buy things in them... If you like the game, buy something in it. Tired of gamers being either poor or stingy.
  • about time!!!
  • Awesome.
  • Any news on achievements?
  • Finally! I loved this game on my iPad air, but it ran poorly once my shelter got very large, so I quit. I'm excited to see this on some more capable hardware like my surface book or gaming rig without having to uninstall yet another annoying launcher.
  • So if I have a cloud save from my Android version, will it work with the Xbox version?
  • Just found the store page for this... Unfortunately, not only is there no mention of mobile. But it can only be installed in a 64-bit version of Windows 10... So all those cool little Windows 10 tablets, which this game is perfect for, ain't gonna work either. [big sad face]
  • still not there... it should be avalable around what time?