Welcome back to the Fancensus Spotlight, where we stop guessing why certain games won the week and actually show you. This is a weekly cheat sheet on which titles are commanding attention, how they’re doing it, and what that implies for your own roadmap in 2026. For new readers dropping in: Flare Score is our way of simplifying press coverage, social noise, and storefront placement into a single 0–100 signal of how visible a game really is. One number that tells you who’s genuinely in the spotlight, and who’s just hoping to be.

Right. Let’s get into the data.

Console Discoverability - Combined Stores

Across Xbox Series and PS5 combined, Activision's Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 was the most visible title with a 100 Flare score, riding the build‑up to its Season 2 launch on 5 February. On Xbox the Season 2 adverts dominated home pages and features in Game Pass Ultimate promotions were storewide. On PS5, Black Ops 7 held major 'Latest' page banner placements in key regions including South Korea, Spain, Mexico and the Netherlands. Xbox Game Studio's Forza Horizon 5 and Capcom's Resident Evil 9: Requiem both followed on 99 Flare but for very different reasons. Forza Horizon 5 was the single most visible title on Xbox Series stores, boosted by a “Developer Direct” sale offering 50% off Standard and Premium editions and promoted across the home, deals, and Game Pass pages, yet it had minimal presence on PS5. Resident Evil Requiem, meanwhile, led on PlayStation but saw lower visibility on Xbox: it appeared as part of the “2026 Great Games” collection with major 'Latest' page banners and fronted the Resident Evil collection on the Collections page.

Fortnite continued to place strongly on both stores with 94 Flare. On Xbox, it spotlighted the South Park crossover through home‑page placements; on PS5, it rotated between several events, from Fall Guys Crown Jam and Chapter 7: Pacific Break to the South Park collaboration. EA Sports FC 26 (91 Flare Score) enjoyed front‑page treatment for its Team of the Year edition on both platforms, supported by an “EA Sports Week” sale on Xbox and targeted Ultimate Edition offers on PS5. Wargaming Group's World of Warships: Legends (78 Flare Score) leaned into fresh content beats: on PS5, sponsored home‑page banners promoted the new Battleship Kremlin, while on Xbox, “Featured Event” tiles on the home page pushed the latest Brawl and Ranked Battle seasons. Blizzard Entertainment's Diablo 4 (76 Flare Score) showed a split strategy, only the base game received spotlight on Xbox, whereas PS5 highlighted both the base game and pre‑orders for the Lord of Hatred DLC, specifically the Ultimate Edition. Another submission from Xbox Game Studio, Forza Horizon 6 (74 Flare Score) began ramping pre‑launch visibility via pre‑order placements across the Xbox store. This supported by its appearance in Xbox Developer Direct 2026 follow‑up promotions. Minecraft matched that 74 Flare Score largely through Game Pass messaging on Xbox. Finally, IO Interactive's 007: First Light (65 Flare Score ) drew attention as part of the “2026 Great Games” collection on PS5, earning major Latest and Collections banners.

Press & Social Flare – Upcoming Products (Next 30 Days)

Poppy Playtime – Chapter 5, due 18th February, continued its ARG‑fuelled campaign. Mob Entertainment released “RESTRICTEDcondemnation1995,” a lore‑heavy video featuring two trapped scientists that deepened speculation around the story. On TikTok, a simple countdown clip from Sasalilimm51, “Only 18 days left until release of chapter 5 of Poppy Playtime”, pulled in around 1.9 million views. Showing how even light‑touch fan content can amplify official beats when the community is engaged. Square Enix's Dragon Quest VII Reimagined, launching 5th February, maintained momentum from its free demo, which has been available for several weeks; sustained demo activity on Twitch helped keep it visible. Press interest peaked twice during the week with the drops of “Adventure Log: Part 2” and “Adventure Log: Part 3” trailers.

Devolver Digital's Reigns: The Witcher made a strong entrance after it's announcement last week, only a month before the planned 25th February release date. It performed very well in the press, ranking 3rd, but more modestly on social platforms overall despite the IGN announcement trailer surpassing 114k views on YouTube. Solid numbers for a narrative‑driven, format‑familiar spin‑off. Koei Tecmo's Nioh 3’s demo, released on 29th January ahead of the 15 February launch, propelled it up the rankings. The demo includes the opening section of the game with saves carrying over to release, plus a bonus “Twin‑Snake Helmet” item for players who complete it, a reward that persists into the full game. Demo gameplay helped Nioh 3 rank first on Twitch; a top stream by xop0 cleared 300k views, and early impressions have been notably positive, feeding pre‑launch excitement.

With less than a month to go before its 27th February launch, Capcom's Resident Evil Requiem has moved from “anticipated” to “dominant” in both press and social attention. Previews in this window offered the clearest look yet at what players can expect. The game features alternating campaigns between Leon and Grace, each with distinct playstyles that shift pacing and tactics. Zombies in this entry retain fragments of their human past, adding an extra layer of nuance and horror compared to previous instalments. Grace introduces a new blood‑based crafting system, drawing resources from enemies and the environment to create tools and upgrades, signalling a deeper focus on resource management and risk‑reward decisions.

Press activity peaked on 26th January as numerous outlets published final impressions and extended gameplay clips. Every new detail, mechanical changes, narrative hints, even character design tweaks, have been scrutinized, including ongoing speculation about whether Ada Wong will appear and how her inclusion (or absence) might impact the story. Overall, Resident Evil Requiem appeared in more than 1,000 headlines across 382 sites in the week, underlining just how central it has become to early‑2026 discourse.

On social media, both official and creator‑driven content played major roles. IGN’s “Final Preview” video reached over 500k views on YouTube, but the standout came from influencer JACK JACK, whose short breakdown, featuring gameplay clips and commentary on Leon’s character design, surpassed 5.4 million views, making it the most‑watched RE Requiem piece of the week. By comparison, the most popular TikTok, a short cutscene excerpt posted by darst_ae, reached around 1.6 million views. On Facebook, the Resident Evil brand account marked the one‑month‑to‑go milestone with a “The Clock is Ticking” post that earned over 33k reactions, reinforcing how milestone messaging can anchor excitement. Meanwhile, Twitch showed the franchise effect in action: many streamers spent the week replaying earlier entries, especially the RE4 remake, under titles like “waiting for Resident Evil Requiem,” keeping the series top‑of‑mind even without direct hands‑on access to RE Requiem itself.

This week’s numbers underscore how coordinated pre‑launch beats can keep a title in pole position across every major channel. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Forza Horizon 5 show the staying power of smart sales and Season updates, but Resident Evil 9: Requiem, Nioh 3, and Dragon Quest VII Reimagined demonstrate how demos, previews, and clear mechanical hooks turn raw curiosity into sustained attention. For teams planning the next few quarters, treating storefront placements, pre‑launch content, and creator windows as an integrated plan will be key to shifting from “visible” to “unmissable.”