Activision Blizzard published a new press release on Diablo IV sales. According to the publisher, the hack-and-slash action RPG has earned more than $666 million in sell-through by Sunday, June 11th, five days after the official launch of June 6th.
That is more than the combined global box office of all horror movies released in 2023. Additionally, if Diablo IV was a movie, it would have registered the biggest opening week of the year with these figures (comparing them with data from IMDbPro's Box Office Mojo and Variety).
Activision Blizzard previously claimed Diablo IV was the fastest-selling game it had ever made. The new press release clarifies this is in regard to both unit sales and dollars sold through. The figures are based on reports received from retailers, digital partners, and Blizzard's own internal records and estimates.
The launch statistics for the game's first week are rather astounding. Over 276 million hours have been played, during which players killed 2.73 billion monsters, created 166 million parties, died nearly 317 million times, killed each other in PvP 429K times, and died at the hands of The Butcher (the boss that randomly appears in a dungeon to go after players) 5.79 million times.
The most popular class is the Sorcerer. There are 6,263 level 100 players and 163 level 100 hardcore players who managed to get to the level cap without dying a single time.
The press release also highlights the success on streaming platforms like Twitch, where Diablo IV held the top spot from June 1st to June 9th, surpassing Blizzard records for hours watched and streamed.
Mike Ybarra, President of Blizzard Entertainment, released the following statement:
On behalf of Blizzard, we want to thank the millions of players around the world who are immersing themselves in Diablo IV. Diablo IV is a result of our incredible teams working together to craft and support genre-defining games, build legendary worlds, and inspire memories that will last a lifetime. We’re humbled by the response, proud of the team, and remain committed to listening to our players and ensuring Diablo continues to exceed expectations for years to come.”
I rated the game 8.5 out of 10 in my Diablo IV review.
Ultimately, Diablo IV is a success at launch, albeit one that stems from an obviously safe approach. However, as with any live service game, whether it will continue to attract players for a long time solely depends on the studio's ability to provide regular content and feature updates that address the player's feedback.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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