After peaking in June 2024, Banana on Steam has seen a significant drop in concurrent players. Let's explore the reasons behind its initial popularity and subsequent decline.
Banana Game Steam Charts Reveal a Dramatic Fall
A Clicker Game About… Bananas
Released on April 23, 2024, *Banana*, a deceptively simple clicker game, unexpectedly soared to fame, reaching a peak of 917,272 concurrent players in June 2024. However, this success proved short-lived. SteamDB data reveals a substantial player decrease from November 2024 onward.For the uninitiated, Banana is a free-to-play clicker game with surprisingly minimal gameplay. Players repeatedly click a banana image. Its appeal, however, lies not in its gameplay but in its potential for financial gain. Players can acquire and sell virtual banana items on the Steam Community Market, with some rare items fetching surprisingly high prices—a "Special Golden Banana," for example, once sold for $1,378.58.
Several factors contributed to the game's initial explosive growth. The promise of easy Steam Wallet funds attracted a massive player base, with developer Hery even describing it as a "legal ‘Infinite money glitch’" in a June 2024 interview with Polygon. This popularity, however, also attracted an influx of bots designed to farm valuable in-game items, artificially inflating the player count.
"We're battling botting issues," Hery told Polygon, "because the game uses minimal PC resources. Some are using up to 1,000 accounts to get rare drops."
Bot prevention measures were implemented in May 2024, leaving the authenticity of the game's 100,000+ player base uncertain. Regardless, a sharp decline followed the peak. By July 2024, the average player count had dropped to 549,091. This downward trend continued, with a dramatic fall from over 400,000 to just over 100,000 in November 2024. While a temporary surge occurred early in 2025, the game hasn't recovered its previous heights.
Currently boasting 112,966 concurrent players and holding a respectable 7th place on Steam's Most Played Games list, Banana experienced a concerning drop to approximately 50,000 players on March 16th, between 17:00 and 23:00 UTC. The cause of this sudden dip remains unclear, and the involvement of bots is uncertain. However, the overall decline likely reflects the game's waning novelty.
The developers continue to update the game, adding trading cards, event drops, and quality-of-life improvements. They've also engaged the community through Steam Workshop support for user-generated banana art, with creators earning a share of sales. Whether these efforts will revive the game to its former glory without the help of bots remains to be seen.
