Google has shared its own 2023 recap to highlight the most searched topics of the year and, in terms of video games, Game of the Year winner Baldur’s Gate 3 ranks much lower than you may expect.
Worldwide, Baldur’s Gate 3 is only the sixth most searched video game, with the number one spot going to Hogwarts Legacy. Frankly, this makes perfect sense. Hogwarts Legacy not only had the advantage of launching in February (so it’s had more time to work with), but it also benefitted from the popularity of the Harry Potter franchise, and the controversy from its association with J.K. Rowling also generated a great deal of attention.
Coming in second place is The Last of Us, no doubt thanks to the success of the TV series from January (in fact, The Last of Us is the most searched TV show of the year). Although other contributing factors likely include the awful PC release of The Last of Us Part One, the delay of the multiplayer spin-off, and the more recent announcement of The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered.
Third and fourth place surprisingly enough go to Connections and Battlegrounds Mobile India. The former is a simple puzzle game developed and published by The New York Times, eventually becoming its second most popular game behind Wordle. It’s probably as high as it is because it offers a new puzzle every day, prompting people to regularly check it. Battlegrounds Mobile India, meanwhile, is just the Indian version of battle royale PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Mobile, which relaunched this year after it was temporarily banned.
The only other game Baldur’s Gate 3 lost out to is Starfield, which is sort of ironic. Whereas Baldur’s Gate 3 was lauded upon launch and continued to be talked about months after, Starfield saw a far more mixed reception, with so much of the conversation surrounding it being about how the game was kind of middling. It’s still been successful for Microsoft and Bethesda, attracting over 12 million players, but perhaps the biggest talking points at the moment are how boring it is and Bethesda’s bizarre responses to poor player reviews.
This is the global rankings, though, and things are a bit different when looking at individual countries. In the U.S., for instance, Baldur’s Gate 3 is actually the third most searched game in 2023, beating Starfield (which is in fourth place), but still losing to Hogwarts Legacy and The Last of Us. Also, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (which surprisingly didn’t break into the global top 10) sits at number six.
