Search engine and all-around behemoth technology company Google has revealed its biggest searches of 2016. With categories ranging from musicians to global news, the biggest insight into our searches has shown that Pokémon GO was the most searched term of the year. It should be noted that the bulk of that interest was in July and August.
In addition to the statistics, Google has uploaded a video showcasing all the main talking points of the year:
With the added success of Pokémon Sun and Moon, its fair to say the Pocket Monsters have yet again proven their popularity. Beating out stiff competition from the likes of President-elect Donald Trump and the iPhone 7, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company will be hoping to maintain strong interest in the brand beyond the New Year. To view the full list and see what was trending in 2016 you can follow this link.
How many times did you search for Pokémon GO? Are you still playing? Leave us a comment.
[source google.com]
Comments 26
$ELL0UT
Hopefully Mario Run has the same effect when it drops and boosts 3ds sales.
@Mr_Zurkon
Unless the only one boosting is Mario himself and what's actually dropping are the sales.
Not surprised.
I'm not surprised considering all the hype and press attention it was getting when it launched.
"Hey Google"? Don't you mean "OK, Google"? "Hey" is for another personal assistant.
Surely the more interesting point is that the Switch was the most searched console which, considering it was only revealed less than two months ago, is pretty impressive.
Strangely, still some people in my country never ever knew about Mario games. Even they knew, some of them still not interested just because of stereotype of gaming and they assumed the game like Mario is just ONLY for kids and adult who plays video games like that will be called "Childish" and they will show negative reactions toward gamer like that (from complaining, moaning, show aggresive dislikeness, ignorance, apathetic, negative labeling, called gamers are Freaks or Anti-Social, etc). Looks like some grown up adult have to burried their fond memories about gaming when they were young due to Family life, people negative stigma about being a gamer in adult age, non-gaming habits, etc.
@Anti-Matter Those people think they can't have to give things up due to some arbitrary age limit. Sad really.
No wonder Pokémon Go has been searched so much, you don't get much of a manual & there are a few things the game doesn't tell you. Also, best movesets and CP's always need a little investigation.
Well, when you consider it's the 20th Annerversary of the franchise, with the release of Pokkén, Go (which I never got to play on my phone) & Sun/Moon, it's safe to say 2016 has had the highest impact for Pokémon since the 90s. ^_^ I just hope they have enough steam to carry this forward with new ideas.
@MadameSpuki A new animé series too, with a new kinetic art direction and story! Pokémon can only get better methinks. (n_~ )
Ah, but here's the kicker: due to all the personally identifying information that Pokémon Go shares with Niantic, and subsequently with Google, the most popular search term of Google themselves this year was....
YOU.
@DanteSolablood I forgot to mention that! Absolutely, I think Pokémon has become the best safety net for Nintendo yet. ^_^
In my household the most popular Google search was 'how to dispose of a body'
@PlywoodStick The word "you"? I typed it in Google, it took me straight to YouTube.
That's pretty impressive that it beat the other thing people frequently search for. You know what I mean.
@HeroponRiki Chocolate? Butterflies?
@DanteSolablood Funny/cute cats. Obviously.
@PlywoodStick For one, no, and for two, it'd be pretty impressive for them to look up everyone exactly the same number of times, whilst maintaining the most searched. If pokemon go overtook the most searched term, by even 1 search they would have to do 14 billion more searches to maintain the lead. To think that they need pokemon go in order to track you is a little naive.
@PlywoodStick Not that they already didn't if they were already planning on it. If an organization is out to get you, chances they already have everything they need on you, and they wouldn't need a fun little app in order to get it done. No need to be paranoid about it. You didn't honestly think that your information was safe before this, right?
Basically, using the internet means you get tracked somehow, by some means. Even if you take every kind of precaution such as installing VPS and using encryption. There is no absolute privacy. And then there's the 'risk' of your friends mentioning your existence on sites like Facebook.
And I'm not quite surprised that Pokémon GO was searched a lot this year, but didn't think it came out on top.
Also worth noting that the Nintendo Switch was the 9th searched consumer tech product. The only game system, the rest phones. Not bad for a 3 min launch video!
The game that was ruined by the updates. I don't know why they let a small company like Niantic do it. Would've been much better with Nintendo.
As for now, I have high, high hopes for Super Mario Run.
I admit I google Pokemon Go just to see if there's any new news on it. Sometimes you learn new stuff that site like NL may miss (or don't post due to aggressive haters), like Pokemon Go launching in India and other parts of South Asia yesterday.
I google it practically daily, I get a lot of updates via twitter though. Also yes I still play avidly.
Surprising no one.
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