Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has finally surpassed Dota 2’s peak and average numbers, based on a recent report by Steam Charts. This has made the shooter officially the best Valve online game. In Dec 2019, CS:GO showed an awesome push, with a peak users of 767,000 – twenty percent more than Dota 2’s top record 628,000. While the game has pushed pass Dota 2 since last year, this is the first time it has been this dominant. After 4 months in a row on the top of the chart, we can probably concur that this is not a fluke but a real trend.
Dota 2, Valve's premier strategy RPG title, has been on the decline as of late, with its top player peak being 1.2 million. That milestone was reached 2 times, four and five years ago, during Jan 2015 and 2016. CS:GO’s peak player counts are more modest, with an all-time record being 850,000 in March 2016. Both these games have been immensely popular, with various big esports tournaments held every year.
Dota 2’s player counts for 2019 peaked during February with about over one million – however, it has been declining severely, with the highest drop being December after the Outlanders Update. This is not a surprise, as Outlanders have changed Dota in a huge way, comparable to the previous 7.00 update. A huge patch is supposed to be bringing the players back, not scaring them away, but Dota 2’s patches have always cause dips in player counts. Based on a report by Dot Esports, Dota 2’s current player base is probably the smallest it has ever been since 2014 when the game was still relatively new. In general, the current Dota 2 player base attributes the slow decline of player numbers to the game’s steep skill ceiling and bad new player reception.
Dota 2’s offshoot turn-based game, Dota Underlord, hasn’t been doing too well either. Its daily peaks since launch have dropped by 90% and the total player count has dropped by 80%, after just six months. Interested in more information related to Dota 2? Please check out this post for the previously mentioned Outlanders update.