Diablo IV is comin’ in hot.
Blizzard Entertainment’s fastest-selling game of all time* blazed past $666 million in sales in less than a week since its June 6 launch, exceeding the worldwide box office of all horror films released in 2023 combined. If Diablo IV were a movie, it would have had the biggest launch week of 2023**.
Diablo IV’s launch success extends a lengthy winning streak by Activision Blizzard. Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II was the highest grossing entertainment launch last year, crossing $1 billion in sell-through worldwide in the first 10 days following its Oct. 28 release. Blizzard’s Overwatch 2 attracted 25 million players in the 10 days following its Oct. 4 launch. And King’s world-famous Candy Crush franchise has been the top-grossing franchise in U.S. app stores for over 10 years.
Those wins are driving the gaming industry to greater heights. Some 2.9 billion people—more than one of every three on the planet—played a video game in 2021, according to an EY gaming industry survey. Pop the hood of the global entertainment and media industry and you’ll find gaming functioning as its engine. According to Pwc’s latest outlook on the sector: “Gaming, with its immersive experiences and virtual items, is [paving the way to] the next generation of digital advertising, entertainment and brand experiences.” Noice.
But enough about that. Let’s dive into Diablo IV.
By the numbers
Here’s a look at Diablo IV’s first week:
276 billion total monsters killed since launch
317 million player deaths (...time to git gud)
276 million total hours played since early access (that’s more than 30,000 years, or enough time to watch everything on YouTube with 13,500 years to spare)
More 166 million player parties created (party on!)
5.8 million total deaths served by The Butcher
430,000 players killed in PvP battle
No. 1 on Twitch from early access on June 1 through June 9, breaking previous Blizzard records for hours streamed and watched over a similar period
That’s not all. Many players are competing in the Hardcore race to Level 100 without dying for a chance to be immortalized. Some like wudijo succeeded. Others met a far worse fate.
Rave reviews, obvi
The pros love it. IGN and PushSquare rated it 9/10. GameTyrant and Tech Raptor made it 9.5/10. Gaming Trend, CGMagazine, and Windows Central gave it top marks: 10/10. Game Rant, Screen Rant, and Twinfinite all registered a 4.5/5.
The people love it, too. There’s been lots of love for Diablo IV’s cutscenes and story, its dark style, and how the whole thing comes together. The Diablo team added more accessibility features to welcome more players, and they have noticed.
The nightmares are real
The mortal realm wasn’t exactly left untouched by Diablo IV.
Lilith showed up on the streets of Sydney and Taipei, appeared at a baseball game in Anaheim, partied in Los Angeles with Zedd DJing, and popped up on buildings in Las Vegas and New York. Forces of darkness overtook a subway station in Seoul, a cathedral in northern France, and a most unusual chocolate shop in London. (Try the entrails.)
Oh, and did we mention the demon meat shake? Yeah, that’s a thing. It goes down great with a KFC Chicken Sandwich… or a hot sauce only a mortal could hate.
And we can’t forget the sonic slaughter. The collaboration of Halsey and SUGA (of BTS) “Lilith (Diablo IV Anthem)” topped the charts in more than 70 countries on iTunes. (Tell me, have you noticed?)
Join the fray
Diablo IV is now available to play on Windows PCs, Microsoft’s Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One, and Sony’s PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4.
And that’s just the beginning.
*Our lawyers want us to clarify that “fastest selling” is based on both units and dollars sold-through on all platforms through the first five days after launch (through June 10, 2023 for Diablo IV). Sell-through figures based on reporting received from digital partners, retailers, and Blizzard internal records and estimates.
**According to data from Box Office Mojo by IMDbPro and Variety.
Fake numbers you satanists!