Introduction

Highly anticipated, Diablo 4 carried on its shoulders the hopes of many fans. It was hoped that the game would return to the source of ‘dark-fantasy’ and feature the talent tree of Diablo 2. The new game also included modern features, such as an open world and a more elaborate staging than its predecessors. The deluxe edition and the Ultimate edition granted early access to many players, who eagerly looked forward to trying out the latest iteration of this iconic game. Blizzard claims that the launch of its latest game has been the best in its history:

In a published press release, the Californian studio indicates that in “four days of early access, players have already enjoyed the latest iteration of this iconic license for 93 million hours (about 10,000 years)”. These are impressive figures, but it is difficult to contextualize them, as the publisher has not provided sufficient information.

Blizzard’s successes in recent years

It is not easy to see clearly what’s going on, but it is assumed that Blizzard is referring to its best launch for early access, which took place between June 02 and June 06, rather than the launch of the game itself, which was available from June 06. Nevertheless, it is still safe to say that Diablo 4 has retaken the crown, as it is the only Blizzard game to have been released on both PC and consoles at the same time. For Diablo III, it took a few years before it landed on PS3/ Xbox 360 and later on PS4/ Xbox One. On the other hand, World of Warcraft’s Shadowlands expansion had the best PC start in the industry with 3.5 million units distributed, although it was later overtaken by Cyberpunk 2077. Only time will tell whether Diablo 4 will continue to maintain its success.

Reasons for success

Diablo 4 is one of the most popular and beloved video game franchises. With this fourth iteration, the game attempted to win over both die-hard fans and newcomers. Overall, it seems to have achieved its goal, as reviews have been positive and most critics agree that the game has many strengths.