Figure 1.
Gartner Hype Cycle. Source: Linden & Fenn (2003).
Figure 2.
Ways to measure hype. Source: original compilation.
Figure 3.
Examples of Red Dead Redemption II promotion forms. Source: Google Graphics (2025).
Table 1.
Comparison of selected hype indicators for chosen computer game titles.
| Game title | Red Dead Redemption II | Cyberpunk 2077 | GTA VI | The Witcher 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Specification | ||||
| Release date | 26th October 2018 | 10th December 2020 | 26th May 2026 | 2027 at the earliest |
| Budget allocated for advertising activities | Estimated at $200–300 million | About $131 million | Hard to estimate at present, but the entire game (advertising, development, future updates etc.) is expected to cost around $2.5 billion | n.d. |
| Number of game trailer views* | Trailer #1 – nearly 28 million Trailer #2 – over 18 million Trailer #3 – nearly 41 million | Over 26 million | Over 264 million | Over 982,000 |
| Number of pre-orders sold | No data, but over 12 million units were sold in the first three days | About 8 million | n.d. | n.d. |
| Number of copies sold since release | About 75 million | About 30 million | n.d. | n.d. |
| Consumer experience after the premiere | positive | negative | n.d. | n.d. |
1 Source: original compilation based on: Cyberpunk 2077 (2018); Krajewski (2022); The Witcher (2024b) and other sources mentioned in this article.