Atomfall Profitable at Launch, Sequel in Talks Despite Game Pass

Atomfall developer Rebellion has announced that its successful British survival game became "immediately profitable" upon release, even though a significant portion of its two million players accessed the title through Xbox Game Pass and did not purchase it directly.

Rebellion has not disclosed specific sales numbers for Atomfall, which launched on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on March 27, 2025.

Instead, the developer highlighted that Atomfall marked its biggest launch ever in terms of player numbers—a feat bolstered by Game Pass subscribers trying the game on Xbox and PC.

Despite this, Atomfall has clearly performed well. In an interview with The Game Business, Rebellion confirmed that the post-apocalyptic simulator, set in northern England, recouped its development costs right away.

Rebellion also noted that the studio is now exploring ideas for potential sequels or spin-offs, while continuing to deliver post-launch support and downloadable content for Atomfall.

In an earlier discussion with IGN’s sister site, GamesIndustry.biz, Rebellion head Jason Kingsley stated that launching Atomfall on Game Pass effectively avoided the risk of "cannibalizing" traditional sales.

"The benefits from that arrangement are disproportionate," Kingsley explained, adding that regardless of sales performance, Microsoft guarantees a "certain level of income" to help minimize risk.

Atomfall Review Screens

View 25 Images

Additionally, releasing the game through Game Pass ensures broad marketing exposure and accessibility—boosting the potential for positive word-of-mouth to drive further sales.

"With Game Pass, you encourage players to try the game. When they enjoy it, they share their experience on social media, telling friends, 'I found this great game on Game Pass, you should try it too,'" Kingsley continued.

"Some of their friends are already Game Pass subscribers and will play it. Others who aren't subscribed may still want to join the conversation—so they go out and buy a copy."

Microsoft keeps its developer business agreements confidential, so the exact revenue Atomfall generated for both Rebellion and Microsoft remains undisclosed. Microsoft clearly benefits when popular games attract players to its subscription service.

The most recent publicly available Xbox Game Pass subscriber count, though now somewhat outdated, reported 34 million users as of February 2024.

"Atomfall is an engaging survival-action adventure that blends the best aspects of Fallout and Elden Ring, creating a unique and compelling experience," IGN noted in its Atomfall review.