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Tickets for The International - Saturday, August 13Aug 11, 2022 - Community Announcements{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/3703047/a6085ffb9745b13c5a7b5ba916be6894d00e5276.jpg As the Arlington Major approaches its conclusion, more and more teams have now officially qualified to The International in Singapore this October. See them live and in person as they compete for the Aegis of Champions by purchasing tickets this Saturday. Tickets will be sold in a single wave starting at 10am SGT (2am GMT) on August 13th, with a limit of 5 tickets per customer for each date. Purchasers residing within Singapore will have the option for courier delivery or will-call pickup. All others must pick up their tickets at will-call only. The event itself has been split into two separate sections: The Playoffs (October 20 - 23) and the Finals Weekend (October 29-30). The Playoffs will feature the top sixteen teams in Dota 2 as they battle for a spot in the Finals. This part of the competition will be held at the Suntec Convention Center in Singapore, and tickets will be sold for the four days separately for a price of $88 SGD each. The Finals Weekend will be the culmination of the event, where the four remaining teams compete to prove themselves worthy of claiming the Aegis of Champions. The Finals Weekend will be held at Singapore Indoor Stadium, and tickets will be available for $498 SGD—a single ticket allows entrance for both days. Tickets will be sold by Ticketmaster at https://ticketmaster.sg/activity/detail/22_intldota2sg. We recommend setting up an account ahead of time so that there are no delays when sales start. DOTA: Dragon's Blood Season 3 ReleasedAug 11, 2022 - Community Announcements{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/3703047/ec7ee2947d63e76dd83716b2c42381b7afdf8ea6.png Witness the thrilling conclusion to the battle for the Dota universe in the third season of DOTA: Dragon's Blood, now streaming on Netflix. Join in as Davion, Mirana, and Luna combine forces with the Invoker to take on Terrorblade and stop the demon from unmaking reality — in a season filled with old friends, new allies, and unexpected turns brought to life with masterful animation from Studio Mir (The Legend of Korra, The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, Voltron: Legendary Defender). For those who haven't started the DOTA: Dragon's Blood journey, catch up now with Season 1 & 2 and see the world of Dota 2 come to life like never before. Experience the story of Davion, a renowned Dragon Knight devoted to wiping the scourge from the face of the world. Following encounters with a powerful, ancient eldwurm, as well as Princess Mirana and her faithful companion Marci, on a secret mission of their own, Davion becomes embroiled in events much larger than he could have ever imagined. Dota 2 Update - 8/3/2022Aug 3, 2022 - Community AnnouncementsQueen of Pain's boots are now an independent item slot in-game and on the workshop. The Form of the Abyssal Kin item that included both shoulders and boots is now split into two separate items, and customers that already have the Form of the Abyssal Kin will receive a copy of Abyssal Kin Legs. Marci is now available for Workshop Contributors Primal Beast is now available for Workshop Contributors The Arlington Major & The Road to the InternationalAug 3, 2022 - Community Announcements{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/3703047/17e3e74c5f323f431ec172c81940e81ad52588b3.jpg The Arlington Major The Summer Tour of the DPC draws to a close, and The Arlington Major offers the best teams in the world a final chance at DPC points before the competitive road reaches The International. Catch all the action as it unfolds from August 4 - 14 in Arlington, Texas, USA. DPC Fantasy Fantasy is now available for play during the Major. Collect cards from all teams heading to battle in Arlington, and study the schedules and matchups to craft your own perfect lineups for each day. Score enough points and you'll earn Summer Lineage Treasures in reward. Supporters Club Sale It's never too late to show your support for the teams heading to The Arlington Major, and with the final battles approaching, all Supporters Club bundles are now on sale for 50% off. As always, half of the proceeds go directly to the teams. Tickets for The International The International is drawing near, and tickets will be released for sale on August 13th. All tickets will be sold in a single wave starting at 10am SGT (2am GMT), with a limit of 5 tickets per customer for each date. Purchasers residing within Singapore will have the option for courier delivery or will-call pickup. All others must pick up their tickets at will-call only. The event itself has been split into two separate sections. The Playoffs will run from October 20 - 23 and feature the top sixteen teams in Dota as they compete for a spot in the Finals. This part of the competition will be held at the Suntec convention center in Singapore, and tickets will be sold for the four days separately for a price of $88 SGD each. The Finals will be the culmination of the event, where the four remaining teams compete to prove themselves worthy of claiming the Aegis of Champions. The Finals will be held October 29 - 30 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, and tickets will be available for $498 SGD—a single ticket allows entrance for both days. Gameplay Patch 7.32 Patch 7.32 will arrive before The International Regional Qualifiers, which take place September 3 - 18. Dota 2 Update - 7/18/2022Jul 18, 2022 - Community Announcements- Adjusted matchmaking to be faster for lower population game modes. - Fixed a bug with matchmaking region selection where the UI would incorrectly prevent you from selecting both low ping and higher ping regions together. - The Kinetic Gem "Wraith Spin" will now apply correctly when Wraith King's Arcana is equipped. - Added a sound effect when allies share an item with your hero. Dota 2 dev explains why you might be experiencing longer queue timesJul 13, 2022 - The LoadoutMatchmaking in multiplayer games is always a contentious topic, and is a side of competitive games where it's usually impossible to make everyone happy. There have recently been some tweaks to Dota 2's matchmaking in order to improve the quality of matches, but some players are reporting horrendous queue times, especially when stacking. A Valve dev has now taken to social media to explain exactly what's changed and why players might be experiencing these lengthy waits to get into matches. In response to a Reddit post bemoaning a 99-minute wait for a game of Dota 2, veteran Valve software engineer Jeff Hill apologises for the players' experience, but also provides the community with some insights as to why this is happening and reveals some extra changes were made in a recent update. Hill explains that alongside Valve's change to allow five-stacks to surrender matches in early July, two other "long-desired" tweaks were made to matchmaking. The first is that the matchmaker now considers the minimum wait time of a player or lobby to avoid them being thrown into low-quality games too quickly. The second is the addition of a "hard limit" on the quality of matches, which will immediately disregard any matches the matchmaker deems to be too low on Valve's "badness" scale. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Dota 2 patch updates hero models for Marci, Meepo, Weaver and more Dota 2 finally gets forfeit feature, but only for five-stacks Dota 2's The International - winners, teams, prize pools, and more Dota 2 Update - 7/12/2022Jul 12, 2022 - Community Announcements- Fixed a bug that caused Razor's Static Link to only be applied to the secondary target when cast on two heroes affected by Grimstroke's Soul Bind. Dota 2 patch updates hero models for Marci, Meepo, Weaver and moreJul 12, 2022 - The LoadoutValve hasn't mentioned it just yet, but a new patch has been dispatched for the main Dota 2 game client - according to Reddit leaker 'Iris_mus' - and there's going to be a handful of updated character models to check out and a major animation overhaul for Weaver. However, interestingly, a lot of fans in the replies to the Reddit thread on said update can't find a difference. In the patch overview shared online, it states that Marci, Meepo, Shadow Shaman, Weaver, and Witch Doctor will all have updated hero models moving forward. Without details on how these models are different, this could mean a significant cosmetic change or something minor like a slight change in colour. We're leaning towards the latter based on what people are saying, however, future cosmetic changes could be made to the aforementioned heroes. Interestingly, though, this patch also includes a significant update to Weaver's animations. We're not going to list them all, but players can look forward to a new head animation loop, new turning animations, an updated set of idle animations, and more. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Dota 2 dev explains why you might be experiencing longer queue times Dota 2 finally gets forfeit feature, but only for five-stacks Dota 2's The International - winners, teams, prize pools, and more Dota 2 finally gets forfeit feature, but only for five-stacksJul 7, 2022 - The LoadoutDota 2 players have maintained a proud history of never surrendering - unless, of course, they're getting absolutely trounced and open mid. The popular MOBA game's rigorous comeback mechanics mean that pretty much any game is winnable, no matter how doomed the position. However, developer Valve is now implementing an in-game forfeit mechanic, but only for five-stacks who really just want to go next. As part of the latest matchmaking update, full parties can now all chat 'gg' to surrender a game. The mechanic can only be activated after the 30 minute mark, and when the surrender is called the same ten second countdown and cancel UI seen in pro games will pop up. Should the surrender go through, the game will naturally be scored as a loss. But this isn't the only change being made for full parties, which will now no longer be restrained to matching against other five-stacks in ranked. Valve has subsequently tweaked its matchmaking system "to make finding a game as a full party faster". Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Dota 2's The International - winners, teams, prize pools, and more Best Dota 2 VPN - level up your MOBA experience Dota 2 patch 7.31c cuts Tiny down to size ahead of Stockholm Major Dota 2 Update - 7/6/2022Jul 6, 2022 - Community AnnouncementsWe think Dota is best played as a group with friends. To encourage this style of play we're introducing a few experimental changes with the patch today to improve overall match quality for these kinds of games: - Full parties are now permitted to match against any valid opposing team, and are no longer required to match against a full party in ranked. - Adjusted matchmaking tuning to make finding a game as a full party faster. - Full parties may now all chat "gg" to surrender a match after 30 minutes of game time with the same 10 second countdown and cancel UI as in pro games. This is scored as a loss. Dota 2 Update 6/30/2022Jun 30, 2022 - Community Announcements- Activated the Jungle Colosseum weekend spotlight mode.Dota 2 Update 6/29/2022Jun 29, 2022 - Community Announcements- During Windranger's Focus Fire, the focus fired unit is prioritized for target selection in all cases, even when illusions are created. - During Windranger's Focus Fire, after stopping / holding, it is possible to target a different target than the focus fired unit if directly clicked on. - Fixed a networking issue when relaying popular matches to many spectators.Dota 2 Update 6/28/2022Jun 28, 2022 - Community Announcements- Changed Focus Fire auto-target logic so that when illusions are spawned, the auto-target of focus fire is disabled. Attacking the focus fire target once again will restart the auto-target and fire while moving logic. - Fixed the interaction of Arc Warden's Clone and Helm of the Dominator, to require the Arc Warden original to own a Helm for the active to work. - Crimson Gates of Nothl item for Dazzle can now be equipped correctly for effects. - The Darkclaw Emissary item for Dazzle has had an animation fix applied.Dota 2 Short Film ContestJun 24, 2022 - Community Announcements{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/3703047/05930771557c4c6b9815063975b6dbc18c1704a8.jpg We're happy to announce that submissions are now open for this year's Dota 2 Short Film Contest. Filmmakers have until 3:00pm PDT on September 4, 2022 to submit their short film creations of 90 seconds or less to the Dota 2 Steam Workshop to be eligible for consideration. Dota fans around the world are invited to visit the Workshop to discuss and vote on their favorites to help us select the best entries to be showcased as part of The International 2022 broadcast. Upon review of the Workshop ratings and discussions, Valve will nominate the top entries to be featured in the Dota client for a final voting process by the community to determine the winners. Each finalist that reaches the top ten will be guaranteed to win $500, and the top three selections will score prizes of $25,000, $10,000, and $5,000 in recognition of their contributions to the Dota community. Check out the Dota 2 Short Film Contest site for more information and guidelines on the submission process. And be sure to stop by the Workshop page regularly to help review the submissions you would like to see showcased at The International 2022, live from Singapore in October. Chest of Endless DaysJun 21, 2022 - Community Announcements{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/3703047/37974dcd7b699b864a8c8a21a79b5720443e0465.png Today's update introduces a treasure drop that features thirteen all-new item sets — the Chest of Endless Days. Each treasure opened will grant a set for Luna, Templar Assassin, Weaver, Nature's Prophet, Viper, Drow Ranger, Wraith King, Pangolier, Winter Wyvern, or Lycan. You'll also have a chance to unwrap a Rare Witch Doctor set, Very Rare Hoodwink set, or Ultra Rare Kid Invoker set, which includes the base Kid Invoker persona if not already owned. These treasures are not available directly for purchase. Instead, they will drop randomly to players as they compete in Matchmaking. A key is required to open this chest — purchase one to unlock the treasure for $2.49, or sell the treasure on the market.Summer 2022 Workshop Call to ArmsJun 21, 2022 - Community Announcements{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/3703047/5b040beb9a647a5f51bb117794af3ffc16785b09.png Summer is just around the corner and now that the Battle Report Update is live, we're setting our sights on future releases. To that end, the Dota team would like to invite all workshop contributors to whip up some new sets for any of your favorite heroes. We're already officially accepting new submissions, and we're very excited to see your full creativity on display. Joining this round of submissions, we're happy to announce that Marci and Primal Beast will also soon be added to the workshop for you to throw into the mix. We request that all submissions be on the Dota 2 Workshop by the end of the day on October 23rd, 2022 PDT. Please make sure to mark your work with the "Summer 2022" tag when tendering items to the Workshop to ensure they aren't overlooked. As always, please avoid concepts involving human skulls, blood, and gore. We'd like to remind all Dota fans to regularly visit the Workshop and vote through the Queue to ensure your voices are heard in the selection process.The International 2022 Live Event Broadcast RFP and Broadcast License RequestsJun 10, 2022 - Community AnnouncementsPreparations are well underway for The International 2022, which will take place live in Singapore in October. For the Playoffs (October 20-23) and Finals (October 29-30), We are now accepting proposals for companies who are interested in the Live Event Broadcast Production of The International 2022's Russian, Chinese, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish (Latin America) language broadcasts. The RFP (Request For Proposal) documentation can be found here, and the form for proposals can be found here. Please reach out to [email protected] with any additional questions regarding this process. Requests for Broadcast Licenses are also available now for respondents of all languages not included in The International 2022's Primary Broadcast Languages (English, Russian, Chinese, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish). Please use this form to submit a Broadcast License Request. We thank everyone for their interest in working with us on The International 2022.Dota 2 gets a nice performance improvement with the Vulkan rendererJun 9, 2022 - GamingOnLinuxThe Battle Report Update is out now for Dota 2, with the majority of it being for Dota Plus but there's also some of the usual balancing changes and a nice improvement for people using the Vulkan renderer. Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2022/06/dota-2-gets-a-nice-performance-improvement-with-the-vulkan-renderer The Battle Report UpdateJun 8, 2022 - Community Announcements{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/3703047/285ff7dc9367d2a0a7676930fde9db3a6c348fea.jpg Today's update brings a host of new and improved features in addition to the seasonal Dota Plus refresh. Dive deep into your match performance with the Battle Report, enjoy a variety of different game modes with Weekend Spotlight, and customize your hero loadout even further with Unlocked Immortal Spell Effects. Then check out 8 all-new sets found in the Summer Seasonal Treasure. Or skip that stuff for now and start right away with the 7.31d Gameplay Update to learn about changes to your favorite heroes. Head over to the full update website for all the details. Battle Reports are customized for each Dota Plus member, but the rest of the fun — like earning Shards and unlocking Relics and other rewards — is now available to everyone. Vulkan Performance Improvements This update also includes a significant performance improvement aimed at removing hitching when playing with the Vulkan renderer. Dota now supports the VK_EXT_graphics_pipeline_library extension which eliminates draw time hitching due to shader compilation. This feature is currently supported only in the NVIDIA Vulkan Beta driver available https://developer.nvidia.com/vulkan-driver, with future support expected in mainline drivers by NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel. If you'd like to learn the finer details, you can read more at https://www.khronos.org/blog/reducing-draw-time-hitching-with-vk-ext-graphics-pipeline-library. Upcoming Plans Every year, fans gather from around the globe to watch the best players in the world compete for the Aegis of Champions at The International. As fans ourselves, we know that after the confetti finishes falling and the fireworks fade away, we want nothing more than to go and play more Dota — after all, why can't we play Magnus like Collapse, or every carry hero like Yatoro? To capture this excitement from current and returning players, we're structuring the Battle Pass a little differently this year: we want to make the time right after The International concludes the best time to play Dota. To do this, we're going to adjust the timing of the Battle Pass release to be later in the year than in previous years — that way the Battle Pass will run both throughout the event, and for a significant amount of time afterwards.The International 2022Jun 1, 2022 - Community Announcements{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/3703047/5f4f5656728c7131edd25c65f89a5d1438646d85.jpg At the Stockholm Major, we were pleased to unveil that The International will be hosted in Singapore, bringing the crowning event in esports to SEA for the first time. Featuring four consecutive weekends of Dota action, and a total of 30 teams from all over the world, this will be the largest Dota event to date. In our constant efforts to make the event and its broadcast as exciting and accessible as possible, we’re experimenting with a slightly different schedule that includes more breaks and a greater build to Finals. Here’s how we’re structuring it this year for the biggest celebration of Dota 2 yet: The Last Chance Qualifiers will run from October 8-12, followed by the Group Stage on October 15-18 — featuring 20 teams battling to make the Main Event. The qualifying teams will then battle through the Playoffs at SunTec Singapore October 20-23, where the field will narrow even further. The survivors will advance to the Finals at Singapore Indoor Stadium October 29-30 — where the Aegis of Champions will hang in the balance. Stay tuned for ticket information for the Playoffs at SunTec Singapore and the Finals at Singapore Indoor Stadium, each of which will be announced later. Looking Forward The Dota team is hard at work on the upcoming Dota Plus June update which includes not only the traditional seasonal refresh, but also several exciting new features and the 7.31d Gameplay Update. Because this update is a larger than normal, it's going to ship a bit later than normal on June 8th.Dota 2's The International 9 was the Game's Most Watched Event Ever with Over 1 Million Viewers on TwitchAug 26, 2019 - GitHypThe International 2019 made headlines earlier this month when it became the biggest prize pool ever for an esports tournament with $34 million on the line. And with so much at stake, early Sunday morning, Dota 2 set even more records with its first-ever back-to-back champions and its highest viewer count ever on Twitch. Last year’s champions, Europe’s OG, absolutely dominated this year’s event which went late into Saturday night and peaked with 1.1 million viewers early Sunday morning during their 3-1 Grand Final victory over Europe’s team Liquid. After last year’s TI8 Grand Finals saw a 100k decline in viewers, this year’s TI9 had an impressive comeback with a 51% increase in viewership on Twitch. But what was most impressive about this year’s record-breaking stream for Dota 2 was the timing of the live stream on Twitch. With most of Twitch’s regular viewer base still asleep in the United States when this year’s main event ended at 8AM ET/ 5AM PT, TI9 crushed Dota 2’s previous peak of 845k viewers that took place during more normal hours two years ago at TI7 in Seattle.Dota 2’s Player Base is the Highest it's Been in 2 YearsFeb 11, 2019 - GitHypOnce Steam’s most popular game (before PUBG took over), Dota 2’s player base has been on a steady decline since peaking with over a million concurrent players back in 2016. But a new user-created custom game mode and less competition from Blizzard have resulted in Steam's second most popular game making a comeback with Dota 2's player counts now the highest they’ve been in two years. Similar to Dota’s own origin story, a custom map created by Chinese developer, Drodo Games, called “Auto Chess” has captured the attention of Dota 2’s player base in a way that Valve once dreamed only Artifact could. In Auto Chess, players fight across an 8x8 field that mimics a chessboard using Dota’s own heroes for game pieces. Auto Chess' gameplay has been able to create its own little niche of MOBA players who want a greater focus on strategy and less emphasis on fast-paced APM. Dota 2’s in-game counter for Auto Chess has at times shown over 200k concurrent players, which helps explain Dota 2’s own 17% increase in players from January’s 491k average to an average of 573k over the past 30 days. And while Auto Chess can account for most of Dota 2’s new/returning players, another factor has been Blizzard’s announcement that they’ll be shifting focus away from Heroes of the Storm. Considered the third most popular MOBA in the world behind League of Legends and Dota 2, news of Blizzard moving developers to other projects and canceling HotS’ major esports events has made Dota’s community look even more appealing to HotS players looking to abandon ship. Auto Chess isn’t likely to become the next Dota or PUBG creating a new genre overnight, but with its popularity increasing among players, streamers, and catching on even more in China, Valve shouldn’t take any chances letting this developer get away – especially not with Artifact dropping outside of Steam’s top 100 most played games.Dota 2’s The International 2018 Finale was Down Over 100k Viewers Compared to Last Year on TwitchAug 27, 2018 - GitHypEven with a better first day, bigger prize pool, and an epic storybook ending, this year’s biggest Dota 2 event couldn’t manage to top last year's viewers on Twitch. The International 8’s grand finals brought in a peak of 730k concurrent viewers as Europe’s OG took China’s PSG.LGD all the way to the very last game of a best-of-five heart-pounding finale. But while OG’s Cinderella story had Dota 2’s analysts, commentators, and viewers all on the edge of their seats in what many consider TI’s greatest grand finals, it fell short of last year’s peak of 845k viewers. TI7’s far less exciting finale featuring EU’s Team Liquid taking home the victory over Newbee in just 3 quick games. And resulted in an impressive 44% increase in viewership compared to TI6 on Twitch which is still Dota 2’s most watched stream ever. Known for having the biggest single event prize pool in all of esports, The International once again set a new peak of $25 million this year with OG taking home $11 million for first place. However, the $23.9 million contributed by players just barely topped last year’s player contribution of $23.2 million. And surprisingly, it was Day 1 of TI8 that had 100k more viewers than last year’s event. But with player counts down 35% since Dota 2’s peak two years ago and other games like Fortnite taking over Twitch, we predicted that TI8 wouldn’t be able to top TI7’s finale. One thing we didn’t see coming, however, was Valve’s unexpected and accidental reveal of their own streaming service, Steam.tv, which contributed to the decline in viewers on Twitch. Their new site pulled away over 80k viewers from Twitch during TI8’s final matches – but even with the numbers combined, TI7’s viewership still fell short of last year's record-setting peak.Dota 2’s Viewer Base and Prize Pool is Bigger Than Ever at The International 2018Aug 21, 2018 - GitHypWith a peak of 1.3 million players back in March 2016, the decline of Dota 2’s player base and the rise of PUBG on Steam has led to many claiming that Valve’s popular MOBA is a "dead game." But even with the player base at half of what it once was, Dota 2 is far from dead when looking at the game’s stats and popularity as a competitive esport. Last year's biggest Dota 2 event, The International 7, saw its peak viewers on Twitch increase by 44% compared to TI6's grand finals going from a peak of 588k viewers to 845k viewers. This year, TI8 on Twitch is already off to a better start with a peak of 645k viewers on its first day. An increase of 100k viewers when compared to 2017’s first day peak of 546k viewers. Dota 2’s remaining player base have also proven their loyalty and demand for more in-game content by contributing $23 million towards the free-to-play game's Battle Pass system and increasing TI8’s total prize pool to $25 million – the largest it's ever been and an increase of over $200k compared to last year. The International 8’s grand finals are set for this Saturday, August 25th, and while it might not see another 44% increase in viewers, the event should be able to continue its growth and top last year’s peak concurrent viewers on Twitch.Dota 2 Hits New Viewer Peak with The International Up 44% Compared to Last Year on TwitchAug 15, 2017 - GitHypMore Dota 2 viewers than ever tuned in over the weekend to watch The International 7 on Twitch. And with good reason. The Valve-sponsored event for their multiplayer online battle arena game had its highest prize pool ever with a shocking $24 million on the line and the champs taking home over $10 million. Getting into the Twitch numbers, Dota 2 brought in a peak of 845k viewers as Team Liquid defeated Newbee in Saturday's Grand Final. This was an impressive 44% increase in viewers compared to last year when TI6 brought in 588k viewers at its peak. [caption id="attachment_284426" align="aligncenter" width="770"] Dota 2's Peak Viewer Counts on Twitch via GitHyp[/caption] The increase in popularity has also brought Dota 2 closer than ever to topping its biggest competition, League of Legends. Riot’s MOBA hit its own all-time peak of 988k viewers back in 2015, but compared to 2016, LoL’s viewership for its own World Championship event was actually down 5% last October on Twitch. TI7 also helped put Dota 2 over 1 billion total views on Twitch. An impressive number, however, LoL still more than doubles that with 2.1 billion as Twitch's most watched game. But in terms of big eSports competitions, both MOBAs still have a way to go before dethroning Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s record-setting 1.1 million peak viewers that the Valve shooter brought in earlier this year.Steam's Most Played Games of 2016Jan 7, 2017 - GitHyp2016 was another great year for games, but it was also a year filled with the the rise and fall of many new games that over-promised and under-delivered. As a result, Steam's list of most played games in 2016 ended up looking almost the exact same as it did in 2015. Last year's top titles held their spots as newcomers who started off strong quickly lost their player bases by the end of the year. Looking at new releases on Steam in 2016 tracked hourly by GitHyp, the highly hyped and highly controversial, No Man's Sky, had the highest peak player count with 212k concurrent players in a single hour.
  1. Dota 2 / 1,286,617 peak players (#1 in 2015)
  2. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive / 845,806 peak players (#2 in 2015)
  3. No Man's Sky / 212,321 peak players (new)
  4. XCOM 2 / 132,834 peak players (new)
  5. Dark Souls III / 129,922 peak players (new)
Other newcomers such as XCOM 2 (132k players) and Dark Souls III (129k players) also had great launches, but only peaked at half of NMS' record-setting number to round out the top 5. While No Man's Sky, XCOM 2, Dark Souls III, and others such as Tom Clancy's The Division and Total War: Warhammer all had strong launches, none were able to hold their ground and each had huge drops in players that made headlines. Other previous heavy-hitters also made headlines due to under-performing launches such as Call of Duty which was down 76% from last year and Watch Dogs 2 which dropped 61% since the last entry in the series. When looking at the more stable average players per hour metric, 2016 ended the same as 2015 with the exception of Fallout 4 -- which didn't just fall out of the top 5, but also the top 10 at #12.
  1. Dota 2 / 636,607 avg. players per hour (#1 in 2015)
  2. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive / 360,600 avg. players per hour (#2 in 2015)
  3. Team Fortress 2 / 50,802 avg. players per hour (#4 in 2015)
  4. Grand Theft Auto V / 40,258 avg. players per hour (#5 in 2015)
  5. Sid Meier's Civilization V / 37,885 avg players per hour (#9 in 2015)
Dark Souls III dropped to #21 on Steam with an average of 14,186 players per hour. No Man's Sky dropped all the way down to #41 on Steam with an average of 8,393 players per hour. And XCOM 2 barely made the top 50 coming it at #44 with an average of 7,815 players per hour. When looking at the average players per hour, it was actually the free-to-play team-based shooter, Paladins, that ended as 2016's strongest new release ranking in at #15 on Steam with an average of 22,809 players per hour.

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