A Google whitepaper called "Understanding the Modern Gamer" shows that gamer behavior can be tracked through searches, and shows that there is a link between searches and game sales. One of their key bulletpoints from the paper says that 84 percent of game sales can be predicted from our searches.  

They found some pretty fascinating stuff in their tracking of searches for the top 20 games of 2010 and 2011. They used their data to create a model and found that if a game nets 250,000 clicks in the 10 months around its launch, it will sell somewhere between 2 and 4 million copies in the first four months.

Google gives a picture of what exactly is being searched for in this window. Most start out looking for official information from the publisher, like trailers and release dates. The searches transition to walkthroughs, tips and wallpaper after launch. Google found that game reviews are still relevant even four months after launch, as some are still trying to come to a decision. 

The data also shows that gamers use their phones often. Before launch, they often pre-order or buy games via their mobile. After launch, 27 percent of all tips searches take place on mobile devices, presumably while gaming. 

Legacy Comments (will be imported soon)

Mr 3man

Does not surprise me. I often do the same thing myself when considering games.

Arttemis

This is some pretty powerful data mining.

tuoman

That's a pretty fancy paper you got there, Mr. Google. But did you see THIS COMING?

*orders Fracture for PS3 on Amazon*

fetusmilk

sooo people who are interested in a product and search the internet about said product around the time of that products release usually buy that product?

KwikPwn

So people interested pre-release are also interested post-rease? Brilliant!!!

Chongomaster

Obviously more popular games are going to be searched for more often, but 84% of all sales? That's actually pretty interesting and it'll be good seeing how publishers and devs react, if at all.

BrowneyeWinkin

REPORT: Researchers commit suicide with their free time. More at eleven.

Baines

It isn't a surprise because searches are a measure of interest, and interest is related to sales.

Elsa

Interesting!... though not surprising. Yeah, when thinking of purchasing a game I'll often google it.

Chalkbot

I'm currently searching for games I have no intention of buying.

Achromatis

"Oh well even though the game isnt even out yet were gona have to fire some of our developers because we havnt met our Google Search expectations"

Yay. Incoming "Google Bonuses" from publishers like they already do for Metacritic scores, just what the industry needed. Thanks Google!

Arttemis

@Achromatis - That's not even hard for me to envision happening, considering how fucking insane the Metacritic situation is... but I'd hardly blame Google for publishing social trends; blame the person instituting policy around them.

MetalDeer

I don't know about that, usually I only Google games I've never heard of. That's it.

NeoShinGundam

I don't understand how this works. If all 250,000 searches were unique IPs, then were do the additional 3.75 MILLION purchases come from?

Are these people searching for the game using Yahoo or Bing? Are they just buying the game without ever researching it? I'm sorry, but the numbers just don't add up in my eyes.

Dez1013

KwikPwn
So people interested pre-release are also interested post-rease? Brilliant!!!


That isn't how science works. No matter how much it makes sense, until you have data to back it up you're just spouting shit.

TrevHead

"I don't know about that, usually I only Google games I've never heard of. That's it."

Yeah same here, otherwise I keep tabs on on new games, either on sites like this, forums and You Tube.

So it would skew me as more liking more obsure games, which is not a bad thing in itself

AlucardsQuest

Personally I don't do a lot of game searches because I do my own research just by following news sites like this one. However there are games or developers which I'm not completely familiar with that do get searched a lot... even if I don't like the games or creators.