Diablo 4 stats plummet as Baldur’s Gate 3 soars
It's the battle of the fantasy RPGs, but as Baldur's Gate 3 soars on Twitch, the viewing figures for Diablo 4 make for some sad reading.
15th Aug 2023 13:52
Larian Studios | Blizzard Entertainment
Diablo 4 stats plummet as Baldur’s Gate 3 soars
It's the battle of the fantasy RPGs, but as Baldur's Gate 3 soars on Twitch, the viewing figures for Diablo 4 make for some sad reading.
15th Aug 2023 13:52
Larian Studios | Blizzard Entertainment
It seems there's only enough room for two fantasy RPGs in 2023, as the release of Larian Studios' Baldur's Gate 3 has pushed Blizzard's Diablo 4 out of the market. To quote American Horror Story, "When a new Supreme rises, the old one fades away."
Diablo 4 had a strong start when it launched on June 5, with the latest entry in the long-running dungeon-crawler series grabbing our attention. Still, the launch of Season 1's forced character reset, continued glitches, and Baldur's Gate 3 getting us hot under the collar has nudged Lilith into purgatory.
Baldur's Gate 3 is obliterating Diablo 4 on Twitch
A quick look at TwitchTracker shows some convenient crossover that the rise of Baldur's Gate 3 coincides with the demise of Diablo 4. In the past seven days, Diablo 4 has had 9,692 viewers. Baldur's Gate 3 has had a whopping 80,822. This puts Baldur's Gate 3 at fifth in the charts, while Diablo 4 is 35th.
There have been 31 million hours of Baldur's Gate 3 watched so far in August, whereas Diablo 4 has had 3.56. It's not that Diablo 4 has died a death, but it's a natural dropoff. Still, Diablo 4 has boasted a peak of 941,488 viewers compared to Baldur's Gate 3's 479,179.
This comes after analytics service SullyGnome.com reported Diablo 4 has gone from nearly one million daily viewers to around 13,000 a matter of weeks after its Season 1 release. As Diablo 4 is a live-service game, it's not a good sign that these numbers are tumbling.
Diablo 4 vs Baldur's Gate 3
It's unfair to compare Diablo 4 and Baldur's Gate 3 to each other, but it seems the former is falling victim to the latter's success. Baldur's Gate 3 is also available on Steam, where it's also been seen taking over the platform and earning rave reviews.
Baldur's Gate 3 landed just shy of breaking Hogwarts Legacy's concurrent player record of 879,308 on Steam. It's not exact, but Metacritic lists Diablo 4 at 86 on PC and Baldur's Gate 3 at a lauded 97. Both have their bonuses, with Diablo 4 largely winning RPG elements and Baldur's Gate 3 for the story.
In an unlikely turn of events, some are tipping Baldur's Gate 3 as Game of the Year, meaning it's edging ahead of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. With major releases like Spider-Man 2 and Starfield still to come, we'll have to see whether it sticks. Either way, the hellfires of Diablo 4 are burning low.
About The Author
Tom Chapman
Tom is Trending News Editor at GGRecon, with an NCTJ qualification in Broadcast Journalism and over seven years of experience writing about film, gaming, and television. With bylines at IGN, Digital Spy, Den of Geek, and more, Tom’s love of horror means he's well-versed in all things Resident Evil, with aspirations to be the next Chris Redfield.
