Despite the negative sentiment that has surrounded Dota 2's competitive ecosystem in the past few weeks, the player count of the game appears to have held up. As per the Data tracking website, Steam Charts, during the month of January 2022, Dota 2 recorded an average player count of 485,791 which is its highest number in 21 months. April 2020 was the last time the player count was higher, when it stood at 493,300. Moreover, January saw an impressive net increase in players and a peak player count of 786,118, the most since May 2020.
January 2022 sees impressive Dota 2 player numbers
Dota 2 is off to a promising start in 2022 as its user base registered some impressive stats. In addition to clocking an average of 485,791 players in the first month, nearly 37,000 new players were added in the month, marking the second highest gain since April 2020.
Despite the cancelation of the Major dealing a massive blow to the competitive ecosystem in January, the month featured some great aspects which might be the potential reasons for this change. A big chunk of January usually means it's the holiday season for many countries and considering the limited outdoor options, it's probable that players turned to indoor recreational activities. Tour 1 of the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) 2021-22 also had its second half in January with many high stakes matches occurring and storylines emerging towards its conclusion.
Moreover, Book 2 of the Netflix x Dota 2 anime, DOTA: Dragon's Blood was released on 18th Jan, 10 months after the release of the first season. Book 2 was Trending on Netflix in a number of countries, and even made it to the Top 10 global television shows on 20th Jan.
In addition, the Battle Pass and its content, and Fantasy leagues can be viewed as compelling additional content, leading players to log into the game more frequently than they normally would.
If we take the month of October 2021 out of the picture, which as expected attracted more players due to The International (TI) returning after a two-year absence, as can be seen from the chart, the last time such great numbers were recorded was around April 2020. This was the first time that the pandemic halted operations globally and lockdowns were implemented. The three months of February, March, and April in 2020 had seen a net gain of more than 100,000 players.
In February 2022, there isn’t anything particularly major planned for the game, so it will be interesting to see if the player count increases or at least remains stable. There will only be six days of DPC action in the month. Two weekends - 11th to 13th Feb and 18th to 20th Feb - will feature the Regional Finals of the six regions, and this is when most players will be expected to tune in.
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