The year is slowly but surely drawing to an end and Google, undoubtedly the company with the greatest ability to assess what happened in 2018 through their immense search data, published their yearly Trends report.
Last year we noted that two consoles launched in 2017, the Nintendo Switch and Microsoft Xbox One X, appeared in the top five of the Consumer Tech category. Oddly enough, this year's report completely lacks any such category; on the other hand, it does include a brand new videogames category.
The chart is led by Fortnite, as predictable given the global phenomenon that Epic's game has become throughout 2018, thanks to the releases on popular platforms such as Android, iOS and Nintendo Switch. Funnily enough, Fortnite even won the GIF category.
Red Dead Redemption 2, launched on October 27th, quickly became a huge success at retail. It broke the record for the fastest grossing entertainment product launched in a weekend; last we heard, it sold 17 million units in about eight days. It's therefore unsurprising to see it as the second most trending game on Google's search engine this year.
Perhaps less expected is Fallout 76 in the third position, particularly after the mixed reception it got when it launched last month. However, the game did appear among the most anticipated titles after the E3 2018 reveal, and the recent issues surely have brought it once again on the spotlight - for better or worse. Plus, Bethesda did say 'millions' of players are already adventuring in post-apocalyptic West Virginia, suggesting that sales probably didn't go badly.
The rest of the top ten features Far Cry 5, God of War, Monster Hunter: World, Sea of Thieves, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Kingdom Come: Deliverance and the 'intruder' Zombs Royale, a 2D Battle Royale browser game, while other heavyweights like Marvel's Spider-Man, Assassin's Odyssey, Pokémon Let's Go and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate are nowhere to be found.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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