In the least surprising news of the year, Fortnite was the most searched for game on Google in 2018. Shocking, I know.
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Like it does every year, Google has released its “Year in Searches” rewind that’s pulled from its search data, and that reveals the most searched for things across a variety of categories.
And for the video games category, Epic Games’ monster hit, Fortnite, unsurprisingly came out top dog, though by how much, Google doesn’t reveal.
Interestingly, Red Dead Redemption 2 comes right behind it in second, while Fallout 76, Far Cry 5, and God of War round out the top five in that order.
Here’s the full Top Ten:
- Fortnite
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Fallout 76
- Far Cry 5
- God of War
- Monster Hunter: World
- Sea of Thieves
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance
- Zombs Royale (this is a free browser game in case anyone is wondering)
As you can see, a few heavy hitters missed the list. Most notably: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Pokemon: Let’s Go. However, both of these games, especially the former, released very late into 2018, and thus didn’t have as much time to rack up searches. If this list was pound for pound, I’m sure both of these would be in the top ten.
Beyond the two Nintendo Switch exclusives, Marvel’s Spider-Man is perhaps the next most notable title to miss out on the top ten, which is a little crazy. Sure, it released in September, but it was huge. Other than Fortnite it was surely the game we covered the most in 2018.
Further notable or somewhat notable misses include: Dragon Ball FighterZ, Battlefield V, Forza Horizon 4, FIFA 19, and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.
Of course, these type of lists are always going to favor games that released earlier in the year, and of course, games that manifest controversy, as a few of these did, such as: Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Sea of Thieves, Fallout 76, and Far Cry 5 did.
This list is also probably going to favor new IP and games players don’t know a lot about. For example, nobody needs to search about Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, because everybody knows it’s “just a new Call of Duty.” Meanwhile, games like Sea of Thieves and Kingdom Come: Deliverance, people are naturally going to be searching for because less is known about them.
Perhaps the most notable inclusion though is Kingdom Come: Deliverance, a debut effort from an independent studio that despite selling well, didn’t really garner mass attention. The controversy or perceived controversy around it probably helped though.
Anyway, that’s 2018 folks. The year of Fortnite. You can check out the rest of the year’s rewind by clicking here. Spoilers: the most searched for thing of 2018 was the “World Cup.”
