Banana Game Experiences Sudden Dip in Steam's Concurrent Player Count

After reaching its peak in June 2024, the game Banana on Steam has experienced a noticeable decline in concurrent players. Let's delve into the factors behind its initial popularity and the subsequent drop in player numbers.

Banana Game Steam Charts Show Massive Decline

It’s a Clicker Game About Bananas…

Banana on Steam, launched on April 23, 2024, quickly became a phenomenon. This free-to-play clicker game, which simply involves clicking on a banana image repeatedly, reached an all-time peak of 917,272 players in June 2024. However, the game has struggled to maintain those numbers, with a significant decline noted from November 2024 to the present, according to SteamDB.

The game's allure lies in its simplicity and the potential for financial gain. Players can earn virtual banana items and sell them on the Steam Community Market, with some rare items, like the "Special Golden Banana," fetching high prices, such as $1,378.58.

The initial surge in popularity was driven by the prospect of earning Steam Wallet funds with minimal effort. Developer Hery described the game as a "legal 'Infinite money glitch'" in a June 2024 Polygon interview. However, this also attracted 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."

The developers introduced bot prevention measures in May 2024, but the authenticity of the current 100,000+ players remains uncertain. Post-peak, the game saw a sharp decline, with the average player count dropping to 549,091 by July 2024. This downward trend persisted, with November 2024 seeing a significant drop from 400,000 to just over 100,000 players. Despite a brief increase at the start of 2025, the game has not recovered to its former heights.

Banana currently holds steady with 112,966 concurrent players and ranks 7th on Steam's Most Played Games list. However, a significant drop to around 50,000 players was observed on March 16th, 2025, between 17:00 and 23:00 UTC. The cause of this sudden dip remains unclear, and it's challenging to ascertain the involvement of bots. The overall trend suggests that the game's novelty is waning.

The developers have been proactive, regularly updating the game with trading cards, event drops, and quality-of-life enhancements. They've also engaged the community by enabling user-generated banana art through the Steam Workshop, with creators earning a share of sales. Yet, it remains doubtful whether these efforts will help Banana regain its peak popularity without bot assistance.