Call of Duty: Modern Warfare had a great press week in week 7 as it became the first title in 2020 to amass over one thousand articles in a week and in doing so made its way in to first. An upcoming battle royale mode was covered extensively and made up 27% of the overall coverage. Talk of Modern Warfare’s second season made up 19.2% of the press, under the commercial topic. Leak/rumour/speculation was the third most covered subject at 7.9% following talks about the possibility of a standalone battle royale mode being called “Warzone”.

Next up was Tom Clancy’s The Division 2, taking second, with a 1600%+ increase in activity. News for Mr Clancy’s looter shooter skyrocketed as new DLC, Warlords of New York, was announced leading to a 37.6% share of the press coming under the commercial topic. Launch details of the aforementioned DLC attributed to the subjects 13.6% share. The trailer released as part of the announcement led the trailer/video/gameplay topic to 11.1%.

Fortnite remained in the top ten as always but dropped to third this time around. 17.3% of the games PR came under the commercial subject with discussions surrounding upcoming DLC content and Epic’s stance on loot boxes. In-game features was the second most touched on topic at 14.8% as articles discussed Fortnite in regards to PUBG’s TDM mode and the rumoured Call of Duty battle royale mode. eSports made up 12.6% of Fortnite’s week 7 press, the Melbourne eSports Open was a prominent talking point.

Fresh new information for Square Enix and People Can Fly’s sci-fi shooter Outriders stirred some interest and put the title into fourth. Details came in the way of a trailer which in turn led the trailer/video/gameplay topic to a 50.9% segment of the games total PR for the week. Launch details was up next with 16.2%, followed by in-game features with 12.9%, both of which continued discussing the new elements shown in the trailer.

The Final Fantasy VII Remake was the fifth most covered game in week 7. The game received a new trailer which meant the trailer/video/gameplay topic accounted for 22.6% of the overall PR. Screenshots/Artwork made up a 15.6% chunk of the games press as screenshots accompanied the new trailer. Once the trailer made its way to official channels it became apparent the previously seen trailer was in fact the opening movie for the game, discussions of the opening movie were 14.6% of the PR and fell under the storyline trailer subject.

Fans of The Last of Us: Part II have been dying for new news with even the tiniest of details causing an uproar, this was the case in the previous week as one significant story went a long way to getting the title to the number six spot. Sony announced their planned line up for the upcoming PAX East event which included a playable demo of The Last of Us: Part II. As such the event/conference topic made up 32.5% of the games press followed by demo/early access/beta at 14% and then in-game features at 11.1% as a result of a short clip of weapon customisation making it onto Twitter.

Pokemon Sword and Shield had a mixed bag of press coverage which collectively put the monster catching giant into seventh. Nintendo cut ties with an online publication as it was revealed that Sword and Shield leaked information had been linked to the site, the leak/rumour/speculation topic therefore made up a 21.7% slice of the coverage. 12.8% came from launch details as Pokemon Home the Pokemon multi platform moving tool was made available to the public. Guide/how to/walkthrough was 11.3% of the press for Sword & Shield as guides are still coming out thick and fast for every facet of the games.

The Media Molecule world building sandbox that is Dreams made its long awaited debut in week 7 and managed to make it to eighth in the Strongest PR Presence top ten. Dreams launch trailer gave fans a taste of the capabilities of the game and caught the attention of the worldwide press and led the trailer/video/gameplay topic to a 27.4% slice of the pie. The point of view subject was the second most covered, as reviews for the game piled in, the subject was 20.4% of the coverage. It’s no surprise to see launch details as a prominent topic with 18.5%, typical for a title in its launch week.

Marvels Avengers made some waves in week 7 after announcing new editions and releasing new information, this resulted in a 1000%+ increase in activity week on week and the number nine spot in the top ten. Special editions was the most covered topic with 31.2% as a Deluxe and Earth’s Mightiest edition was announced. Alongside the announcement of the new editions a pre-order trailer also dropped taking the trailer/video/gameplay topic to 18.1%. Launch details made up 13.1%, again relating to the newly released details.

Down eight places and rounding off the top ten is Apex Legends. The biggest stories of the week were regarding the return of duos mode for Valentine’s Day and mentions as part of articles on the rumoured Call of Duty battle royale mode, this lead to a 33.5% chunk for the topic in-game features. Awards/rankings/lists made up a 15.1% slice of the Apex coverage as the game picked up an award for Online Game of the Year at the DICE awards. Mentions within Call of Duty articles also meant that the leak/rumour/speculation topic was the third most covered at 5.2%.