Recently, the Game Awards crowned Baldur’s Gate 3 as Game of the Year. This means it beat the new Zelda and Spider-Man 2. However, this does not mean that the role-playing game was the most successful in every area. The action RPG Diablo 4 tops another list.
This is how well Baldur’s Gate 3 performed:
- Baldur’s Gate 3 was released on August 3, 2023, after several years in Early Access. Although it was quiet about the game until shortly before the release, a bear sex scene drew the whole internet’s attention.
- The team expected 100,000 players at peak. On the very first weekend, there were more than 7 times that, just on Steam. Shortly after, players on PS5 and now also Xbox joined in.
- At the Game Awards 2023, the ultimate recognition finally came: Baldur’s Gate 3 received the title “Game of the Year”, the highest honor for a video game.
This is where Diablo 4 outshines Baldur’s Gate 3: Despite the success of Baldur’s Gate 3, it falls short in some categories compared to other games. StreamElements recently published new statistics for the year 2023.
Among them are the games with the most successful launch week on Twitch. Here, Diablo 4 is far ahead at number 1. In the first week after release, the game was watched for 70 million hours on the platform. The following places are:
- Place 2: Hogwarts Legacy with 50 million hours
- Place 3: Baldur’s Gate 3 with 22 million hours
- Place 4: Tears of the Kingdom with 22 million hours
- Place 5: Starfield with 18 million hours
Although Baldur’s Gate 3 rightfully claims the title of Game of the Year, Blizzard’s massive hit still achieves great success, at least according to the numbers on Twitch. And there are several reasons for that.
Colleague Michael Graf from GameStar explains what gives Baldur’s Gate 3 such a special position in gaming:
No game had such a strong release week as Diablo 4
Baldur’s Gate 3 is a single-player game. These have traditionally had a harder time on Twitch than multiplayer games, MMOs, and service games in general. This is mainly because multiplayer games inherently appeal to more players; they are designed for that.
Diablo 4, in particular, builds on a long legacy of games that have all been hugely popular or at least enormously successful. Even if numbers from Steam wishlists are missing, it can be assumed that Diablo 4 was the most anticipated game of 2023, perhaps even in the last 10 years.
The beta before release alone attracted over 1 million players – 10 times more than Larian had expected for Baldur’s Gate 3.
At Blizzcon 2023, we were able to get information from the developers about the future of Diablo 4:
Additionally, Baldur’s Gate 3, as an RPG, relies heavily on story. Those who play themselves generally don’t want to be spoiled. Watching on Twitch happens only when one is not playing oneself, is already finished, or is a big fan of the respective streamer.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is aimed at an audience that enjoys tricky puzzles, quirky stories, and great character development. Diablo 4, on the other hand, focuses mainly on gameplay and attracts a base of casual players – and thus significantly more interested parties.
Accordingly, more people also watch streamers who already have experience in Diablo 4. Because there, one can see how to best tackle content and which builds are currently strong. In Baldur’s Gate 3, this is not necessary. Nonetheless, Baldur’s Gate 3 is likely to be the heart’s winner for most players, especially since the boss has delighted the whole internet with his knight’s armor.
