After reaching its peak in June 2024, Banana on Steam has experienced a noticeable decline in its concurrent player count. Let's delve into the game's journey and understand the factors contributing to 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 rose to fame as a unique clicker game. Despite its simple premise—clicking on a banana image repeatedly—it captured the attention of gamers worldwide, reaching an all-time peak of 917,272 players in June 2024. However, the game has struggled to maintain these numbers, with a significant decline noted from November 2024 onwards.
For those new to the game, Banana is a free-to-play title that challenges traditional gaming norms. Its gameplay is minimalistic, focusing solely on clicking the banana image. The real draw, however, is the opportunity for financial gain. Players can earn virtual banana items, which can be sold on the Steam Community Market. Some rare items have fetched high prices, like the "Special Golden Banana," which sold for $1,378.58.
The game's initial surge in popularity was fueled by the allure of earning Steam Wallet funds with minimal effort. Hery, the game's developer, described it as a "legal 'Infinite money glitch'" in a June 2024 interview with Polygon. However, this popularity also attracted automated bots designed to farm valuable drops, artificially inflating the player count.
"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."
In response, the developers introduced bot prevention measures in May 2024. Despite this, it remains uncertain whether the current player base of over 100,000 is entirely genuine. The game saw a sharp decline in concurrent players post-peak, dropping to an average of 549,091 by July 2024. This downward trend continued, with a significant drop from 400,000 to just above 100,000 players by November 2024. Although the game briefly doubled its player count at the start of 2025, it has not fully recovered.
Currently, Banana maintains a strong presence with 112,966 concurrent players, ranking 7th on Steam's Most Played Games list. However, a sudden drop to around 50,000 players was observed on March 16th, 2025, between 17:00 and 23:00 UTC. The cause of this dip is unclear, and it's challenging to ascertain the involvement of bots. The overall trend of declining player counts suggests that the initial novelty of the game may be wearing off.
The developers have been proactive in updating the game, introducing 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. While these efforts are commendable, it remains to be seen whether they can help Banana regain its former glory without the aid of bots.
