Not every game from the Game of the Year 2023 nominees showed up in the most searched list.
Google’s Year in Search 2023 is here, and we have the list of the 10 most searched games on Google this year. It was a stacked year in gaming, with Baldur’s Gate 3 winning GOTY beating out Spider-Man 2, Alan Wake 2, TOTK, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and Resident Evil 4. Find out whether these were the highly searched games on Google this year.
Here are the most searched and trending games on Google globally.
NYT Connections, for those unaware, is an online game where you guess words based on the category clues given. Select similar words that go together and clear the grid. If you’ve grouped them correctly with less than four mistakes, you win. While this sounds simple, the words are tricky. Moreover, the grid refreshes daily so players can come back and try again tomorrow, similar to what gave Wordle its popularity.
Speaking of popularity – Baldur’s Gate 3 being on the list isn’t surprising, but instead of the other GOTY nominees, there are some other names on this list. PlayStation exclusive franchise The Last of Us (which got a TV show this year), Starfield, Hogwarts Legacy, and Diablo IV also made it there.
Starfield has received mixed reviews on Steam because players call it bland, boring and empty. With scathing comments calling the activities dull, pointless, and generic and mentioning the lack of true space travel (they have loading screens instead).
Meanwhile, Diablo 4 had a rough start to its seasonal content, with massive backlash from players for its itemization, content, drops, extra nerfs to the Sorc class, and more. They took a beat to fix things and made season 2 more fun.
Battlegrounds Mobile India, or BGMI, was banned due to privacy-related concerns, but once it came back, there was no stopping it. By October 2023, BGMI had already crossed 100 million downloads on Android devices, which is a testament to its popularity.
Atomic Heart and Sons of the Forest had explosive popularity and discussions surrounding them when they were released, but the virality of Suika Game/Watermelon Game was unmatched.
You can check out the full list of the top 10 most searched topics and queries across various categories here.