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Diablo III a top Google search in 2012

Searches for Blizzard's dungeon-crawler topped only by iPad 3, Hurricane Sandy, Gangnam Style, and Whitney Houston.

Google today published its annual Zeitgeist 2012 results, revealing Diablo III landed at the number five position for trending searches during the year. Blizzard Entertainment's role-playing game was topped only by iPad 3, Hurricane Sandy, Gangnam Style, and Whitney Houston. Diablo III has sold over 10 million copies to date.

Diablo III was a more popular search item in 2012 than Kate Middleton, Olympics 2012, Amanda Todd, Michael Clarke Duncan, and BBB12. Google's top "trending" searches are those that generated the highest amount of traffic over a sustained period in 2012 when compared to 2011.

No other game or gaming-specific product made it into Google's overall trending searches list, though gaming had a presence elsewhere. "PlayStation" came in at number six in the Consumer Electronics section for top trending searches of 2012.

To compile its 2012 Zeitgeist, Google factored in over one trillion searches typed into Google Search this year. The company used data from a range of sources like Google Trends and unspecified internal data tools. Spam and repeat searches were tossed out in an effort to create lists that "best reflect the spirit of 2012."

Top Trending Searches of 2012, per Google data:

1. Whitney Houston
2. Gangnam Style
3. Hurricane Sandy
4. iPad 3
5. Diablo 3
6. Kate Middleton
7. Olympics 2012
8. Amanda Todd
9. Michael Clarke Duncan
10. BBB12

Eddie Makuch
By Eddie Makuch, News Editor

Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.

178 comments
prismtech
prismtech

very sad search...pretty much all the people on the list r dead except the royal duchess. oh wait, that nurse died earlier this month is because of her baby news. 

 

oh! not to mention dec 21st is approaching soon.

 

happy holiday everyone :l

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SevenStyx
SevenStyx like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 2 Like

What a dumb article. Did you mention the game turned out super boring compared to diablo 2, and half those results were for a refund, uninstall, or selling?

Ripper_TV
Ripper_TV

 @SevenStyx Exactly. Not boring, I would use a stronger word. Too bad, mods never sleep here!

Erick
Erick moderatorstaff

 @Ripper_TV  @SevenStyx are you going to solely base it on D2 or D2 + LoD thats a big difference. To be honest D2 wasn't that great, its LoD that made it great. That's not a great defense for D3. D3 was good just not LoD good, hoping the expansion pays off just like LoD.

SevenStyx
SevenStyx

 @Erick  @Ripper_TV  @SevenStyx I don't have the same opinion as you. I thought D2 was good. The expansion wasn't anything profound to me, just 2 more character classes, another boss, very little cut scenes to make a difference in story, basically the same game; same experience to me.

 

RedEyedMonster8
RedEyedMonster8 like.author.displayName 1 Like

It was a popular search because it was a hugely popular game, you guys don't have to make a federal case out of it. Is there a Gamespot poster above the age of fifteen? I mean seriously.

Cuthbert1970
Cuthbert1970 like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 2 Like

top in Google's stats but fails to mention 99% of the time it was likely the result of booleans with the words "uninstall", "refund", or "selling"

BuBsay
BuBsay

I was one of the people who bought a year of WoW subscription in order to get Diablo 3 for free (even though I quit playing WoW back when Cataclysm came out cause it sucked tremendously).

 

Since then, I've played maybe 10-15 hours of Diablo 3 in however many months it's been out, but have gotten back into WoW again. At least Mists of Pandaria is something engaging and not bugged to hell and back with terrible RNG.

darkscape
darkscape

Blizzard accomplished with Diablo 3 something they never thought possible........ They made their fanbase THINK twice about buying their games in the future.

AzatiS
AzatiS like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 2 Like

Doesnt matter if it was number 5 in 2012 in google search or made record sales.

 

 

Majority Quit and game is sinking in less than 5 months. Im pretty sure Diablo 3 had the fastest and biggest online  RPG decline in PC history.

 

Diablo 2 after 14 years ... puts Diablo 3 in shame. Thats ridiculous if you ask me.

Keaze_
Keaze_

 @AzatiS No surprise there.  I was a huge fan and spent my time online, but then they had to change everything, Add this 2nd leveling system that I have no clue what it does because I quit playing before it, apply patches that change the whole gameplay,  Dramatically increase the drop rate.  Dramatically decrease Inferno's difficulty therefore filling it with noobs (for lack of a better word). It's like one of those MMO's where you work SO hard to get things that are so difficult to get, only to learn a month later that those things are now easily accessible to everybody.  What a shame.

Grimbear13
Grimbear13 like.author.displayName 1 Like

:D I'm glad I like Diablo 3, when it originally came out it had some issues but Blizzard has been good to fix and improve the game as they always do.  People (including myself) got so hyped up over the game they were expecting a perfect game out of the gate, something that would have no issues with it which is unrealistic.  Diablo 2 v1.0 was very buggy and not nearly as fun as the current version that we have today.  So I wish people would take their minds off of OMG THIS GAME IS SUCH TRASH and give it a shot even now.

AzatiS
AzatiS like.author.displayName 1 Like

 @Grimbear13 

 

I rofled...

 

You comparing a 14 years old game with a 2012 one?

 

Good job.

InquisitorCrox
InquisitorCrox like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 2 Like

Well, at least this horrible game got one thing right...

the Hype. Blizzard is almost as good as Apple on that.

Creating an interest, expectation and a false feeling of superior quality, needs heeps of casf though, to pay off jurnalists and for publicity.

 

Behind every result hides an investor that invested huge sums to be there.

The saddest thing is though that the hype slaves, esp in the US, are still majority...

 

And for them Blizzard had lost a huge opportunity by sacrificing one of its best IPs this way.

Diablo 2 had a ten year appeal, Diablo 3 lost its appeal in less than 10 months...

 

The interest raised for this has shown its potential, the reaction of the poor customers of us after playing it though tells a totally different story...

This will teach us and future gamer generations never to trust Blizzard again...

DrizztDark
DrizztDark

@InquisitorCrox oh jeez stfu cry baby. Yea the game didn't deliver close to what it should have but just cause people like playing by no means are they hype slaves

blackothh
blackothh

the only thing on that list that is not suck ass, is Michael Clarke Duncan

ChunkyDrawers
ChunkyDrawers like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 8 Like

I think they meant to say "90% of those searches were pirates trying to find it for free"

BarkingSpider81
BarkingSpider81 like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 6 Like

I smashed my Diablo 3 disk along with the computer it was played on, and then I burned my house down in which my computer was kept  to ensure that I never played this pile of ass again.

max-hit
max-hit like.author.displayName 1 Like

Warning! Internet hipster alert! Just in case you want go and look for the comments below.

axlroselm
axlroselm like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 5 Like

What a disgrace! One of the worst games of 2012 tops!

IanNottinghamX
IanNottinghamX like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 3 Like

No i think they got it wrong...its Diablo 3 sucks thats the number 1 search...

francoislr
francoislr like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 2 Like

"diablo error 37" was the most used

mrboone01
mrboone01 like.author.displayName 1 Like

Those searches were all for D3 hacks, cheats, and gold sales.

Sanguis_Malus
Sanguis_Malus like.author.displayName 1 Like

I tend not to use Google since they changed the privacy policy.

hangman000
hangman000

It was probably all "Diablo 3 torrents".

 

<<Puts on eyepatch>>

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bumpies
bumpies like.author.displayName 1 Like

Just shows how great the game could have been. It was good but just too different from what made it so successful. I think it lost itself

 

Keaze_
Keaze_

 @bumpies You're in the debauchery and venting thread.  Serious comments are not relevant.

Falru
Falru like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 9 Like

Probably top search was "how to play diablo 3 offline"

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Keaze_
Keaze_

 @GamerMani This guy can't be serious.  It's either trolling, or I've lost my faith in humanity.

AzatiS
AzatiS

 @GamerMani 

 

Biggest blizzard fanboy in gamespot spotted.

 

I never saw something like that since 2004 im on this site.

snaketus
snaketus like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 2 Like

 @GamerMani What? Anything you say doesn't make any sense. Activision Blizzard fanboy.

 

Btw. You are not getting WoW on you next Xbox, sorry to break your bubble.

Imperiacommando
Imperiacommando like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 2 Like

Have respect for blizzard, they made World of Warcraft, Strcraft II and Diablo III....good reason to sit on your computer

AzatiS
AzatiS like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 2 Like

 @Imperiacommando 

 

Then you are too young.

 

The real respect for Blizzard comes with games like

 

Diablo / Diablo 2 / Starcraft / Warcraft and then WoW.

 

Diablo 3 is not even close ... Its a suckball game that dying despite millions of sales and tremendous hype and anticipation.

 

Biggest letdown ever.

FAIL_TR0LL
FAIL_TR0LL

 @Imperiacommando I respect them for Warcraft III, but they lose that respect by refusing to make a Warcraft IV.

prismtech
prismtech

only number 6 makes sense in this article :3

TheWatcher000
TheWatcher000 like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 2 Like

There Is Desperation, And Then There Is This Article.

 

 

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