After reaching its peak in June 2024, Banana on Steam has experienced a noticeable decline in concurrent players. Dive in to explore the reasons behind its fluctuating popularity.
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 sensation in the gaming world. This seemingly simple clicker game achieved an all-time peak of 917,272 players in June 2024. However, the game has struggled to maintain these numbers, witnessing a significant drop from November 2024 to the present.For those new to the game, Banana is a free-to-play clicker game that breaks traditional gaming norms. Since its launch in April 2024, the game has captivated players with its minimalist approach. The core gameplay involves clicking a banana image repeatedly, yet its appeal stems from the potential to earn real money. Players can collect virtual banana items and sell them on the Steam Community Market, with some rare items fetching high prices, like the "Special Golden Banana" which sold for $1,378.58.
The game's rapid rise to fame can be attributed to several key factors. The promise of earning Steam Wallet funds with minimal effort was a major draw, with developer Hery describing it as a "legal 'Infinite money glitch'" in a June 2024 interview with Polygon. However, this popularity also attracted automated bots aimed at farming 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 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 uncertain whether the game's current 100,000+ players are all genuine. Post-peak, the game saw a sharp decline in concurrent players, with numbers dropping to an average of 549,091 by July 2024. This downward trend persisted, with November 2024 witnessing a significant drop from 400,000 to just over 100,000 players. Although the game briefly doubled its player count at the start of 2025, it has not recovered from this decline.
As of now, Banana holds steady with 112,966 concurrent players and ranks 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 if bots played a role. The overall trend of declining player counts likely reflects the diminishing novelty of the game.
The developers have been proactive, regularly updating the game with trading cards, event drops, and quality-of-life improvements. They've also engaged the community by integrating user-generated banana art through the Steam Workshop, allowing creators to earn a share of sales. Whether these efforts will help the game regain its former glory without relying on bots remains to be seen.
