Banana Game Experiences Significant Decline in Steam's Concurrent Player Count
After reaching its peak in June 2024, the game Banana on Steam has witnessed a notable decrease in its concurrent player numbers. Launched on April 23, 2024, this unique clicker game captured the attention of gamers worldwide, achieving an all-time peak of 917,272 players. However, the game has not managed to regain these numbers, with a sharp decline observed from November 2024 onwards.
Understanding Banana: A Clicker Game with a Twist
Banana is a free-to-play clicker game that defies traditional gaming norms. Its gameplay is minimalistic, revolving around players clicking on a banana image repeatedly. The game's appeal, however, lies in its financial incentives. Players can earn virtual banana items which can be sold on the Steam Community Market. Some rare items have fetched significant sums, like the "Special Golden Banana," which once sold for $1,378.58.
The game's meteoric rise was driven by the allure of earning Steam Wallet funds with minimal effort. Developer Hery described it as a "legal 'Infinite money glitch'" in a June 2024 interview with Polygon. This surge in popularity, however, attracted automated bots designed to farm valuable drops, artificially inflating player counts.
"Unfortunately, we are currently facing some problems around botting, since the game takes basically 1% to no resources of your PC," Hery told Polygon. "People are abusing up to 1,000 alternative accounts in order to get Rarer drops or at least drops in bulk."
In response, the developers introduced bot prevention measures in May 2024. Despite these efforts, it remains unclear whether the current player base of over 100,000 is genuine. Post-peak, the game experienced a significant decline, with the average number of players dropping to 549,091 by July 2024. This downward trend persisted, with November 2024 seeing a drop from 400,000 to just above 100,000 players. Although the game saw a brief doubling of its player count at the start of 2025, it has yet to recover from the decline.
Currently, Banana maintains a strong position with 112,966 concurrent players, ranking 7th on Steam's Most Played Games list. However, a sudden dip to around 50,000 players was observed on March 16th, 2025, between 17:00 and 23:00 UTC. The cause of this drop remains unclear, and it's challenging to ascertain the involvement of bots. The overall trend of declining player counts suggests that the game's initial novelty may be waning.
The developers have been proactive in updating the game, introducing trading cards, event drops, and quality-of-life improvements. They've also engaged the community by allowing user-generated banana art through the Steam Workshop, with creators earning a percentage of sales. Despite these efforts, it seems unlikely that Banana will regain its peak without the aid of bots.
