- The Dota 2 player base starts growing in April with four consecutive months of +30,000 average users more
- Much of this has to do with the release of the Nemestice Battle 2021 and the release of the DOTA: Dragon’s Blood Netflix series
- Dota 2 will most likely see a new slump in active players once The International ends
Dota 2 is picking up steam as the buildup to The International 10 continues with more average daily players logging in.
Dota 2’s Active Average Players Grow for Four Months
Following a nearly five-year slump, the average Dota 2 player base has started climbing back up and it has done so for four consecutive months now, based on Steam Charts reporting. That is good news for the game’s ecosystem which has always struggled to achieve the audiences pulled in by its main competitor, League of Legends.
However, Dota 2 saw an uptick in the number of active players from April through July and the positive trend seems to keep through. On average, there were an additional 30,000 players playing every day during the period, and the Nemestice Battle Pass 2021 brought some 734,277 online at the same time in June.
Following a massive slump in users in the absence of competitive Dota 2 events, the Dota Pro Circuit returned in 2021 and produced the qualifying organizations for The International, the highest-ranking event in competitive Dota 2 that will have 18 teams competing for the lion’s share of the $40 million prize pool.
In terms of overall activity this year, Dota 2 saw numbers slump a little in February and March, but competitive events quickly bucked the trend and started pushing results up once again.
In July, the game’s peak players fell to 734,277, but the average player count online increased to 423,156.
What Drove Dota 2 Numbers Up?
There were several factors that drove the game’s popularity up this year. First, after a dispiriting 2020, the game finally returned to its competitive roots with some Covid-19 restrictions out of the way and in-person events taking place here and there.
Valve also released the animated series for the game, DOTA: Dragon’s Blood on Netflix, which streamed across many continents and amassed a respectable following, with the series getting 8/10 on IMDb.
Dragon’s Blood tried to flesh out some of the storyline behind the game, something that League of Legends has been working on for years now. Making fans feel more involved in the fabric of the game along with the return of some of the big tournaments, though, did give Dota 2 a boost over the period.
The International is most likely going to eat away ?? some of the player base, albeit it could also drive numbers up as some people, and those who have paid for the Battle Pass could be watching directly through the game’s client.
Once that passes, though, Dota 2 will most likely start to lose some players as the new season gets locked in. In the meantime, OG will be vying for a third consecutive victory in The International.
Another win would consolidate their status as the highest-earning esports team in the history of competitive video gaming for some years to come.
