February 1st, 2023, Rishad Dsouza
EA’s Battlefield franchise rose 4.8 points in month-on-month YouGov BrandIndex Buzz scores among US gamers to start 2023 on a promising note. This uptick is plausibly a reflection of the positive sentiment around the reintroduction of class system in Battlefield 2042, the absence of which had disappointed some fans at launch.
YouGov BrandIndex Buzz score is the difference between the percentage of respondents hearing positive things (from friends, family, or the media) and the percentage hearing negative things about a franchise in the previous two weeks.
Diablo, which whipped up conversation with a cinematic trailer announcing the release date for Diablo IV, rose from an average Buzz score 3.0 in December to 7.8 in January.
At the third spot in the Buzz rankings for January among American gamers is EA Sports’ UFC.
In Britain, it is Overwatch that generated the biggest improvement in Buzz among gamers, rising from -5.6 to 0.1. Overwatch 2 has recently been in the news for updates to the ranking system, with Blizzard admitting that the ranking system has suffered from poor comprehension.
Gears of War bags the next spot with a 2.4-point rise in Buzz scores. The franchise made headlines in mid-January over rumours that the Gears of War remastered collection, which was initially rumoured to release in 2022, is still in development.
Minecraft rounds off the list among British gamers with a relatively modest 1.5-point increase in Buzz.
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Methodology: YouGov BrandIndex collects data on major video gaming franchises. Buzz score is based on the questions: “Over the past two weeks, which of the following video games have you heard something positive about?” and “Now which of the following video games have you heard something negative about?” and delivered as a net score between –100 and +100. Scores reported represent the change between the 30-day daily average between December 1 – December 31, 2022 and January 1 – January 30, 2023. Scores are based on an average sample size of 266 gamers in Great Britain and 468 in the US. Daily figures are based on a four-week moving average.
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