The UK-based tracking and analyzing a blend of the press, social, commercial, and consumer data company Fancensus has released a report on Activision Blizzard’s latest hit Diablo IV. The verdict compares Diablo IV to other successful AAA games and details how successful the game has been upon its release.
As well documented, Diablo IV’s launch period has been a resounding success. Blizzard stated that it is the most successful launch title ever, and this is supported by the game’s strong marketing KPIs. Compared to all games launched between June 2022 and today, Diablo IV ranks #1 for launch period press coverage and #2 for blended press & social media activity – putting it behind only God of War: Ragnarök.
It’s obvious that Diablo IV has been a huge hit with fans and reviewers alike, with an average review score of 90%. The level of expectation around the game was huge, with more than 18,000 articles dedicated to it and a further 3,340 press mentions – with 97% of it broadly positive in tone. That’s almost double the amount of press coverage on the Resident Evil 4 remaster, another game with a vast and loyal fanbase and a game that achieved even higher review scores.
FLARE is Fancensus’ proprietary way of ranking a game’s on-store prominence; a higher score shows that the game has been given more ‘shelf space’ and sees a higher level of promotion both on-store and across marketing channels. Diablo IV’s score shows that the game was heavily featured by retailers, possibly due to there being less direct competition for attention, thanks to an early June launch date.
The fact that its FLARE score is almost double that of FIFA 23 and almost 40% higher than Hogwarts Legacy shows just how much interest there was from gamers, prompting retailers to pull out all the stops. A really impressive social media and marketing campaign from Activision would also have contributed.
