If you’re a MOBA games fan, you’ll no doubt be aware that Dota 2’s Diretide event has returned to Valve’s title for the first time in a whopping seven years. Aside from oodles of Halloween-themed fun for players to sink their gnashers into, it looks like the mode’s brought back something else to the game – a lot of players.
Head to Steam Charts (thanks, Dot Esports!) and you’ll see the Dota 2 player count has risen significantly over the past month – notably, for the first time since April 2020, shortly after which the multiplayer game’s 2020 battle pass was launched. In April of this year, Dota 2’s average and peak player counts leapt up from 437k and 744k the month before to 493k and 801k, respectively. Since then, however, the game’s players have been ebbing away, with the peak count dropping to 666k in August, and a very similar 670k in September – a drop of around 131k over several months.
However, Steam Charts records that both the average and peak player counts have seen a notable increase in the last 30 days – the first since April (the minor peak figure rise in September notwithstanding).
As of writing, Dota 2’s average player count over the past month has risen to 411k and the peak count has hit 723k. That’s an increase of around 2.3k players on average and just under 53k at peak compared to September’s numbers.
The Dota 2 Diretide event might have launched (just in time) for Halloween, but it runs until December 22, so perhaps we’ll see those figures continue at a steady pace or even rise again before the year’s out. Looks like we’ll have to wait and see how things play out.
If you’re yet to get stuck in yourself, or are keen to gobble up some gameplay tips like the candy-hungry Roshan himself, do take a look at our Dota 2 Diretide guide for some pointers.