Welcome back to another Fancensus Spotlight, where store visibility tells you what publishers are really prioritising and where momentum is building fastest. Flare is our way of measuring that wider attention across press and social: in plain language, it shows which upcoming titles are generating the strongest combined buzz across media coverage and platform activity. This week, the biggest story is a split screen between a first-party PlayStation lead and a pre-launch campaign that’s turning into a genuine event. But first, a look at the most discoverable titles on the key console stores.

Console Discoverability

Xbox Store

This week’s top five on Xbox featured a familiar mix of evergreen giants, with visibility dominated by titles that continue to hold strong across the dashboard. EA Sports FC 25 took the number one spot with a 100 Flare score, just ahead of Fortnite on 98 Flare score, as both titles benefited from broad, high-profile placements across the store. Forza Horizon 5 followed with 96 Flare score, while Minecraft sat in fourth on 92 Flare score, continuing its steady presence across Game Pass and other key surfaces. The new punchy pottery party brawler, Kiln, closed out the top five on 82 Flare score, with a particularly notable showing for a new Day One release, thanks to placements across Game Pass Day One, the home page, spotlight and Most Played Deals.

PlayStation Store

PlayStation’s storefront was led by Saros, which stormed into first place with a 100 Flare score and strong visibility across flagship placements including Home Page, Must See, Pre-Order, Discover PlayStation Studios and Top Games in Your Country. Diablo IV took second on 78 Flare score, supported by Lord of Hatred and Age of Hatred Collection appearing in prominent sections such as Pre-Order, What’s Hot and Must See. World of Warships: Legends held third on 63 Flare score, continuing a run of strong visibility through latest and free-to-play areas, while Fortnite placed fourth on 58 Flare score as major updates helped keep it surfaced store-wide. 007 First Light rounded out the top five on 56 Flare score, with hero placements on the Home Page helping build momentum ahead of its late-May launch.

Press & Social Flare

Looking at upcoming titles (next 30 days) that created a buzz last week, The Dark Pictures Anthology: Directive 8020 was at #5. It kept momentum through previews, demo coverage and “coming in May” roundups, with publisher-owned posting helping sustain interest into the launch window. Fourth, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight benefited from a clean “gone gold” beat, PC specs confirmation and a strong preview-led headline cycle that extended its reach beyond the usual announcement window. Third, Forza Horizon 6 built anticipation with a broad spread of coverage around features and file size, plus strong social pickup from both major media and creator channels, as the May 16 launch approaches.

In second place, 007 First Light was the standout pre-launch media story outside the top title, with a heavy headline count, new gameplay detail, and strong creator response around preview footage. That leaves the Spotlight title, Subnautica 2, which combined the right kind of timing with the right kind of channel ownership: it ranked at the top across press and social, with its own channels driving the conversation, rather than simply reacting to it.

Top Title Spotlight

Subnautica 2 did something especially valuable: it turned an Early Access date into a full-scale attention event. The title generated over 400 press headlines, mainly focused on the May 14 Early Access launch, while its own branded channels were the top posts on YouTube, TikTok, X and Facebook, giving the campaign unusually strong control over the narrative. On X, the top four posts came from the game’s own channel and together drove close to 25k likes and more than 1.7m page views, which shows how effectively the team is converting direct audience interest into measurable engagement.

The social story was just as strong on video-led platforms. The cinematic Early Access trailer on the official YouTube channel passed 3.6m views with 5% engagement, while Twitch creator Lockclear and TikTok activity from the official account added scale and repeat exposure across audiences that often behave very differently from one another. In other words, this is a campaign that has built momentum through owned media, creator lift and a clear release-date hook.

Speaking of social stories, did you catch our masterclass last week? It was a special digital event where Ryan Janes and David Sidebottom revealed which gaming events publishers should actually care about, and what each one can do for your title. If you’re planning your next move and want smarter answers before the calendar fills up, watch the replay below.

Watch the masterclass replay here

AMA (Ask Me Anyting) here