Fallout 4 free weekend for Xbox Live Gold subscribers

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Numbers first: from May 25 to 28, 2017, Fallout 4 was free for all Xbox Live Gold subscribers on Xbox One. The window started at 12:01 AM on May 25 and ended at 11:59 PM on May 28, Pacific time. At the same time, the trial was also offered to Steam users on PC.

The package included all of the game’s base content and mod support, which on Xbox One had already become one of the highlights of the console version. For those who decided to buy after the trial, the game and the Season Pass received discounts of up to 67% during the period. In practice, that means the weekend worked as a full demo: Gamerscore, achievements and progress earned over the three days were kept if you bought the game.

A bit of context for those who didn’t follow it. Fallout 4 is from Bethesda Game Studios, directed by Todd Howard, and was released on November 10, 2015 for PS4, Windows and Xbox One. The game is set in 2287, 210 years after a nuclear war, in the Boston region, called the Commonwealth. It was the first in the series with a voiced protagonist and brought settlement building, layered armor and more than 50 customizable weapons, with more than 700 modifications.

Reception was strong: Metacritic averages of 84 on PC, 87 on PS4 and 88 on Xbox One, plus the game of the year award at the D.I.C.E. Awards and the BAFTAs. In the first 24 hours, Bethesda shipped 12 million units to stores, the equivalent of US$ 750 million.

What came next

Fallout 4 never left the stage. On April 25, 2024, it received an update for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. The Anniversary Edition arrived on November 10, 2025, and the Nintendo Switch 2 version on February 24, 2026. By July 2026, the game had sold more than 35 million copies. Not bad for something that was once given away free for a weekend.