Show/Hide Show/Hide

Dota 2

 
The Disciple's Path — Anti-Mage Hero PersonaJul 10, 2020 - Community Announcementshttp://cdn.dota2.com/apps/dota2/images/blogfiles/ti_10_blog_am_wei_persona_asbjeb.jpg From the ashes of a fallen faith, a young warrior joins the fight against the perversions of the arcane. Available now to all Battle Pass owners who reach level 305, the new Disciple's Path Hero Persona for Anti-Mage features an all-new model, animations, and voice performance to ensure she can carry on the lost traditions resurrected by the Anti-Mage. Rescued at a young age by the Anti-Mage, and fostered by his allies, the disciple Wei began her training as soon as her mentor would allow. Now, after years of study and meditation, Wei is called upon to journey into the world and wage battle by the tenets of a new order—to tear down the pillars of magic and bring the wizards of these realms to their vile knees. Head over to The Disciple's Path update page to learn more, and then blink into the lanes to farm up and lay waste to your enemies.The International 10 Collector's CacheJul 2, 2020 - Community Announcementshttp://cdn.dota2.com/apps/dota2/images/blogfiles/cct_lsraks_blog_header.png The final votes have been tallied and The International 10 Collector's Cache is now available, loaded with the top 18 eligible item sets as voted on by the Dota 2 community. Unboxing 15 treasures will automatically grant you 36 Battle Levels, and the odds of receiving a bonus rare item will increase with each treasure you open. You can also recycle any unwanted items for 2 Battle Levels. The International 10 Collector's Cache is available for $2.49 and will only be on sale for 30 days. This will be the only way to acquire these exclusive items, except for the ultra rare Mirana item, which will be marketable sometime after The International 11 concludes. Each purchase of this treasure contributes 25% of sales directly to The International 10 prize pool. The final vote tally is listed below, with the exception of a second Grimstroke set at rank 17 – that set will be released at some point in the future. Rank Hero Votes 1 Tiny 533,094 2 Night Stalker 513,300 3 Underlord 462,155 4 Mars 461,980 5 Ancient Apparition 445,540 6 Warlock 434,483 7 Juggernaut 424,958 8 Disruptor 416,678 9 Silencer 410,484 10 Mirana 405,545 11 Pudge 400,718 12 Bounty Hunter 393,102 13 Huskar 390,656 14 Jakiro 390,030 15 Grimstroke 388,186 16 Nature's Prophet 379,109 17 Lina 367,285 18 Enchantress 363,905 We once again thank the community artists who tendered submissions for this year's treasure, as well as the entire Battle Pass community for casting votes in support of their favorite item sets. We look forward to seeing your top selections in the lanes.Gameplay Update: Patch 7.27Jun 29, 2020 - Community AnnouncementsThe Dota 7.27 update is out with a lot of general changes, item balance changes and two all-new items. Check the patchnotes here.Battle Level BundleJun 24, 2020 - Community Announcements{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/3703047/0e67e11ace813b5a63e931c7d551b5b800287306.png Explore ever deeper into the reaches of the Battle Pass rewards line with the Battle Level Bundle, available for a limited time only. Battle Pass customers can purchase this discounted bundle from now until the morning of Monday, June 29 to unlock 120 Battle Levels, 9x Immortal Treasure I, 6x Immortal Treasure II, and 3x Immortal Treasure III for only $29.99. This bundle offers 75% savings on the combined value of the levels and treasures, and will contribute 25% of each sale directly to The International 10 prize pool. Each customer can buy up to two bundles. The International 10 Battle Pass is jam packed with amazing rewards: the Sanctums of the Divine Terrain at level 160, the Toy Butcher Pudge Persona at level 255, the Disciple’s Path Anti-Mage Persona at level 305, the One True King Wraith King Arcana at level 375, the Eminence of Ristul Queen of Pain Arcana at level 445, the Compass of the Rising Gale Windranger Arcana at level 575, and the Collector’s Aegis at level 1000 to name just a few. The Battle Level Bundle is just the tool needed to unearth the full potential of this year’s Battle Pass.Dota 2 Update - June 22nd, 2020Jun 22, 2020 - Product Update- Turbo: instant banning is back - Turbo: neutral item times reflected in HUDDota 2 Update - June 19th, 2020Jun 19, 2020 - Product Update- Fixed flying vision not applying to some heroes with stolen spells. (i.e. Morphling with Tree Dance, all relevant spells in Ability Draft) - Fixed Morphling, Rubick, and all heroes in Ability Draft being visible to enemies when using Tree Dance. - Ability Draft: Tinker's Rearm now restores a single charge on abilities with charges when cast. - Ability Draft: After Tree Dance is cast, the ability is replaced with Primal Spring while the hero is in a tree.Collector’s Cache SubmissionsJun 16, 2020 - Community AnnouncementsWe've received messages from workshop artists concerned about fairness in the upcoming Collector’s Cache, specifically that some item sets were over the polygon limits allotted by our workshop tools. We agree that this provides an unfair advantage and have removed them from the selection pool. Periodically we contract workshop artists that we've had a good experience with to create customized content. As part of that process, we need to tag their accounts so they can submit the raw files for a variety of types of content, privately, through the workshop. This system was intended to be used only for contract work, and not as a way to gain an advantage in general workshop submissions, which have their own guidelines, such as for the Collector’s Cache. We should have been more vigilant in monitoring submissions, as we’ve discovered several artists have submitted over-budget content in the past as well. We will be changing the submission process for contract work to prevent this from happening in the future. Upon reviewing the community's top selections to construct the treasure list, we found two of the selections to be over the stated budgets. They will be replaced by the next two most highly-voted sets. There was also a question as to why some sets had references to particles prior to the voting. This is a regular development process that we have for workshop items in general. If a Valve artist wants to do something different in between tasks, or has some availability and an idea to enhance a specific item from the workshop, they are encouraged to explore it. The reason for that is because it can be released at a later date in another treasure if it doesn't make it in the community-driven portion of the Collector's Cache. A similar scenario happened last year, where we had enough extra resources to be able to create a second Cache using some older popular items and some newer ones. For this year we aren't sure if we will release a second Cache, or instead use items we found interesting for a future treasure. That depends entirely on how the production schedule plays out, and if some things take longer or shorter than expected. A couple notes for clarity: 1) polygon limits are the limits for what contributors should submit, and not the limit for what content is in the game necessarily, as there are often adjustments and changes that are done after a set is accepted. 2) None of the internal particles were part of the in-game display for voting Finally, per feedback we've gotten from workshop artists, we will be reviewing the existing polygon limits for workshop submissions and evaluate doing an across-the-board increase to the limits.Dota 2 Update - June 16th, 2020Jun 16, 2020 - Product Update- Turbo: MVP enabled - Turbo: Couriers are invulnerableDota 2 Update - June 12th, 2020Jun 12, 2020 - Product Update- Added a new game communication setting “Text Filtering” which is enabled by default and blocks profane words used in text chat.Eminence of Ristul — Queen of Pain ArcanaJun 11, 2020 - Community Announcementshttp://cdn.dota2.com/apps/dota2/images/blogfiles/eorzip_qop_arcana_blog_image_jt.jpg After so long exploring the playground of the mortal realm, Akasha returns now to the dangerous Court of Ristul, where fiendish new plans are set to begin. Celebrate her rise to power with the all-new Eminence of Ristul Arcana bundle, available now in The International Battle Pass. This Arcana bundle includes a new model and base items, new animations, custom Sonic Wave and Blink, custom deny effect, ambient effects, a special whip melee attack animation for targets in close range, a Sonic Wave pain meter, and over 500 new Arcana-exclusive voice lines. Torment 1000 heroes with Sonic Wave in your victories to unlock the Royal Decree alternate style. Make way for your queen over at the Eminence of Ristul update page. OG disbands its second Dota 2 team OG Seed because of "conflict of interest"Jun 8, 2020 - The LoadoutOG has today announced that it is releasing its second Dota 2 roster, OG Seed, due to ongoing "conflicts of interest" with its main team. OG Seed was set up last year to develop even more Dota 2 talent at the back-to-back TI winners, but after less than seven months the team will now be disbanded as the organisation failed to establish official multi-team ownership and as a result could not enter the team into any tournaments OG's main roster would be competing in. "Because of unforeseen situations (the devastating Covid-19 pandemic), The International 10 was postponed, and the competitive calendar for the rest of the year became unclear," OG says in a statement. "We always knew the two rosters would not be able to compete in TI10 under OG, but as the new calendar started shaping into regional tournaments, we saw that having two rosters competing in the same tournament created a potential conflict of interest. We worked with other teams and Tournament Organizers to try to find a solution, but despite our efforts, we realized that it was still probably a little too soon to try to properly implement multi-team ownership. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Dota 2's Sideshop shut down in latest battle pass update Valve makes changes to Dota 2's TI10 battle pass after community complaints Dota 2's biggest battle pass spender is the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Dota 2 Update - June 6th 2020Jun 6, 2020 - Product UpdateThis update adds an option to allow players who preferred using the Sideshop to continue doing so. With the new option enabled, you will be able to use recycling to earn gold instead of the current mechanic. The option can be toggled on and off depending on your recycling preference at any time. Furthermore, gold will be provided once again through Guilds and Gauntlets. We recognize that some players may have already spent their gold and consumed their gems since our update Thursday. We will be restoring everyone's gold to the value it was before the update. We will also restore any spent gems since then. Any items redeemed through the store will still remain in player's inventories. Regarding the state of the bench, we know some players would want it reverted while others wouldn’t so we added a new button in the Sideshop to let you choose before taking any actions.Collector's Cache Battle Pass VoteJun 5, 2020 - Community Announcementshttp://cdn.dota2.com/apps/dota2/images/blogfiles/cache-blog-image_ti10_z1p4.png The Dota 2 Workshop has seen an amazing amount of high-quality submissions for this year's Collector's Cache. As is custom, we'd like to invite all Battle Pass owners to weigh in on the process and help make the final selection. From now until Friday, June 12, the final candidates for the Collector’s Cache will be featured for preview in the Dota 2 client, where all players can see a lineup of the item sets for easy comparison. Battle Pass owners can give a thumbs up or down to each set under consideration, and sets with the highest scores will be included as the main items of the Cache. We'd like to thank all of the workshop artists who have submitted items, and we look forward to unveiling the collection that best represents the community's favor.Dota 2's Sideshop shut down in latest battle pass updateJun 5, 2020 - The LoadoutThe International 2020 battle pass has divided Dota 2 fans ever since it was released last week. Now, after making one round of changes based on community feedback, Valve has decided to make another set - this time altering several features so that they work similar to previous years. Thanks to an update pushed live earlier today (June 5), the Weekly Wagering system now works how it used to in last year's battle pass. This means there will be the same amount of battle points available to players from wagers. In addition to changing the wagering system, Valve has also removed Sithil and Quirt's Sideshop from the game. The shop was meant to give players more opportunities to do more with their earnings, but the community didn't like it. The Sideshop has now been replaced by a recycling system similar to that of last year's pass. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: OG disbands its second Dota 2 team OG Seed because of "conflict of interest" Valve makes changes to Dota 2's TI10 battle pass after community complaints Dota 2's biggest battle pass spender is the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Dota 2 Update - June 5th, 2020Jun 4, 2020 - Product UpdateIn this update we are rolling back two features to be like they were last year: Weekly Wagering & Recycling/Sideshop. The amount of weekly battle points available from wagering is now the same as last year. Sithil and Quirt’s reimagined Sideshop has been shut down. Immortals can now be recycled using the same system as last year. For players that have already recycled immortals, the system will automatically back fill your progress on this replaced system and grant you additional immortal treasures as appropriate. Any rewards previously earned through the Sideshop will remain in player inventories, and if you still have gold and wish to continue rolling in the Sideshop, you can use the dota_show_sideshop command. As part of this update we are also removing ticketing requirements for the Gauntlet.Valve makes changes to Dota 2's TI10 battle pass after community complaintsJun 2, 2020 - The LoadoutAfter almost a week of discontent from Dota 2 players about this year's The International battle pass, Valve has addressed the concerns by putting out an update that increases the speed at which you can level up. While the battle pass sold incredibly quickly when it was launched last week, generating over $12 million already for TI10's prize pot, players quickly realised that it was not as generous as previous years. Fans believed the grind for this year's pass was harder and rewarded players for spending more cash. There is a similar amount of content in the pass, but it's been spread across more levels, requiring a lot of play time, money, or both. However, Valve has now made progressing through the battle pass a little easier after making a number of changes in an update. In an accompanying post to the update on June 1, Valve says: "We recognise that players still feel that they wish playing granted more, so we have a few changes." Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: OG disbands its second Dota 2 team OG Seed because of "conflict of interest" Dota 2's Sideshop shut down in latest battle pass update Dota 2's biggest battle pass spender is the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Dota 2 Update - June 1st, 2020Jun 1, 2020 - Product UpdateWe've read feedback from the community that leveling feels harder this year. We looked into how things compare so far to last year. For battle pass players of all levels, on average players have earned 1.95% more free levels than last year. If we consider only players who after a week were below level 200, on average they have earned 7.91% more free levels than last year. However, we recognize that players still feel that they wish playing granted more, so we have a few changes included in this update: - Wagering battle point rewards are now increased by 50% - Guild contract battle point rewards are now increased by 100% - Sideshop gold for Recycling is increased by 65% - Sideshop gold for Guild contracts and upgrades are increased by 100% All these changes are effective as of this update. For sideshop gold earned through previous recycles, we will be granting the extra gold over the next few hours.Dota 2's biggest battle pass spender is the Crown Prince of Saudi ArabiaJun 1, 2020 - The LoadoutThe Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud is a powerful man with a lot of money, but he also likes Dota 2. Like many of the game's fans this week, the prince has been sucked in by this year's battle pass, and he's already topped the the leaderboard with a $9,344 spend. The prince, who goes by the in-game name Purrrrrfect Devil Angel Yukeo, is known for his spending habits in Valve's popular MOBA. In 2018, the 35-year-old, who's also serving as the country's deputy prime minister, spent approximately $42,000 getting his battle pass to level 101,127 and in 2019, he spent $21,000 to reach level 51,354. This year's battle pass has only been out for a week and he's so far spent $9,344 and climbed to level 22,435 - that's more than 11,000 levels higher than the second placed player. The prince is a pretty active Dota 2 player. He's put thousands of hours into the game and currently likes playing the support role as Crystal Maiden. He's also ploughed through more than 10,000 games, earning a respectable Legend IV rank in the process. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: OG disbands its second Dota 2 team OG Seed because of "conflict of interest" Dota 2's Sideshop shut down in latest battle pass update Valve makes changes to Dota 2's TI10 battle pass after community complaints Dota 2 fans aren't happy with The International 2020 battle passJun 1, 2020 - The LoadoutOne week on from release, the new Dota 2 battle pass has raised more than $11 million for The International's prize pool. However, not everyone is happy with their purchase. If you've browsed the game's subreddit recently, you'll have noticed a series of complaints from players who believe the pass is more like a tiered payment system this year, rather than a legitimate battle pass. The pass, which launched last Monday (May 25), comes with a new guilds system, a new summer event, and more. It also adds three new Arcana items and two Personas skins to the game, but some players feel these cosmetic items are unttainable by grinding the pass and they'll have to spend more money to get them. The level one pass costs $9.99 to pick up, but players can choose to purchase passes that grant them 50 or 100 levels if they want. However, the Pudge Persona is unlocked at level 255, the Anti Mage Persona at level 305, the Wraith King Arcana at level 375, the Queen of Pain Arcana at level 445, and the Wild Ranger Arcana at level 575. Since the average player completes about 100-150 levels during the lifetime of the pass, some think this is unfair. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: OG disbands its second Dota 2 team OG Seed because of "conflict of interest" Dota 2's Sideshop shut down in latest battle pass update Valve makes changes to Dota 2's TI10 battle pass after community complaints Dota 2's International Battle Pass adds player guilds and pause screen mini-gamesMay 26, 2020 - Rock, Paper, Shotgun The Dota 2 International 10 Battle Pass has landed, and the ground hath buckled beneath its weight. There is a silly number of new cosmetics and features for those who buy it, and a few new features for those who don’t. Everyone now gets to play mini-games during those inevitable mid-game pauses when one player vanishes, and everyone can join newfangled player guilds where you jointly earn cosmetic rewards. Only Pass owners can create guilds, but I bet you know at least one sucker. (more…) 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.

Meta