Diablo 4is easily one of the most anticipated games of the year. During its first beta access—with one more yet to come—Diablo 4managed to draw in massive participation numbers and has set itself up to be one of the biggest launches in recent memory. While expectations forDiablo 4’s release are already sky-high, its launch may be primed to exceed even the loftiest expectations.
Over the past year, there has been no shortage of hugely successful launches. The biggest winner from last year wasElden Ringwhich shattered FromSoftware’s previous sales recordsand cemented itself as one of the best-selling RPGs of all time. Almost exactly a year later,Hogwarts Legacydebuted to an equally strong launch, posing an immediate challenge to the records set byElden Ringand actually surpassing them in some cases. Now, only a few months later,Diablo 4has the chance to eclipse records set by either of those massive titles.
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All Signs Point to an Absolutely Massive Diablo 4 Launch
Blizzard remained relatively tight-lipped on exact participation figures during the first beta period but confirmed thatDiablo 4’s beta was the largest in franchise history. It was confirmed, however, that almost three million players managed to snag the beta reward—one that was offered to players that got at least one character to level 20. Blizzard also confirmed that there was a collective play time of almost 62 million hours.
If those numbers weren’t convincing enough,Diablo 4also dominated Twitchduring its beta window. In just six days,Diablo 4managed to crack into the top ten most-watched titles for the month of March, sitting up there with perennial favorites likeCounter-Strike: Global Offensive,League of Legends, and the like. None of these figures are particularly surprising for a title likeDiablo 4, but they all paint the same picture:Diablo 4is carrying an unprecedented amount of hype into its release.
The figure thatDiablo 4has to top to beat outHogwarts LegacyandElden Ringis around 12 million in the first two weeks. It’s an undeniably tall order, but betweenthe beta figures for Diablo 4and the overwhelmingly positive reception to the title so far,Diablo 4may just be able to do it.
Factors Working Against Diablo 4’s Launch
Even though fans are a decade removed fromDiablo 3’s launch, the sour taste from its disastrous debut still lingers for many. In order to win back hesitant would-be customers,Diablo 4has to come out exceptionally strong. It cannot afford a rocky start likeDiablo 3if it hopes to dethrone heavyweights likeHogwarts Legacy. Even during the relatively successful beta period, many fans were put off by lag spikes and connection issues, and Blizzard desperately needs to have those issues figured out by June.
Diablo 4also has fierce competition around its release date. There are still two months to go, andJune 2023 is already jampacked with big-name releases. WithDiablo 4,Final Fantasy 16, andStreet Fighter 6all releasing within weeks of one another, fans are going to have to make some seriously tough decisions. In an ideal scenario, all of those titles would put up big numbers independent of one another, but in reality, they’re likely going to sap each other’s sales figures.
There’s no question thatDiablo 4is going to have a big launch regardless of these factors, but it may not topple the massive sales ofElden RingandHogwarts Legacywith such stiff competition. Still, it’s hard to ignore the fact that it very well could.
Diablo 4launches June 6 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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