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Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 tops first YouTube Top Trending Games list

YouTube is now measuring which games are trending across its site, based on user views and uploads, and the first game to top its list isn't even officially out yet.

Ozzie Mejia

February 4, 2016 8:00 AM

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YouTube has intensified its focus on gaming content since the launch of YouTube Gaming last summer. With more users embracing not only gaming video uploads, but live streaming, YouTube is now looking to keep tabs on what's trending. That leads to YouTube's first monthly Top Trending Games list, which measures viewer watchtime and user uploads to create a trending metric. And the results of the first list are awfully surprising.

Topping the month of January is Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 and I know what you're thinking. No, the game isn't out for another couple of weeks. But there was a multiplayer beta and YouTube users were quick to jump on any videos to get an idea of what to expect later in February. Right behind that came another beta, this one for Tom Clancy's The Division. While not everybody pre-ordered or was able to get beta access, that left everyone else to turn to YouTube for any kind of fix.

What's interesting about the YouTube Top Trending Games list, as opposed to Twitch's similar list issued monthly, is that it displays user habits for each site. While Twitch is mostly dominated by live events, like League of Legends tournaments and the like, YouTube users seem to be searching for trailers, announcements, or more information-based content. Then there are just the outright strange entries to the YouTube list, like Boom Beach. Who could have expected a free-to-play mobile game to be such a hit, even with its inescapable ad campaign?

Here are the Top 10 Trending Games on YouTube, as noted over on YouTube Trends:

• 1. Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2
• 2. Tom Clancy's The Division
• 3. Dying Light
• 4. Subnautica
• 5. Goat Simulator
• 6. LEGO Marvel's The Avengers
• 7. Shovel Knight
• 8. Rocket League
• 9. Smite
• 10. Boom Beach

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?