Banana Game Sees Sharp Decline in Steam Player Count

After reaching its peak in June 2024, the game *Banana* on Steam has seen a significant decline in its concurrent player count. This article delves into the factors behind its initial surge in popularity and the reasons for its recent downturn.

Banana Game Steam Charts Show Massive Decline

It’s a Clicker Game About Bananas…

Launched on April 23, 2024, *Banana* quickly became a sensation in the gaming world. This free-to-play clicker game, despite its simple mechanics of repeatedly clicking on a banana image, soared to an all-time peak of 917,272 concurrent players in June 2024. However, the game has struggled to maintain those numbers, with a notable decline starting in November 2024 and continuing to the present day.

*Banana* stands out by offering players the chance to earn virtual banana items that can be sold on the Steam Community Market. Some rare items, like the "Special Golden Banana," have been sold for as much as $1,378.58, adding a financial incentive to the game's appeal.

The game's meteoric rise was fueled by the promise of earning Steam Wallet funds with minimal effort. Developer Hery described it as a "legal ‘Infinite money glitch’" in a June 2024 interview with Polygon. Yet, this popularity also attracted automated bots farming valuable drops, artificially inflating player counts.

"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 implemented bot prevention measures in May 2024. However, the effectiveness of these measures remains uncertain, as the game's concurrent player count has continued to decline. By July 2024, the average number of players had dropped to 549,091, and by November 2024, it plummeted from 400,000 to just over 100,000. Despite a brief surge at the start of 2025, *Banana* has not recovered its previous highs.

Currently, *Banana* maintains a strong presence with 112,966 concurrent players and ranks 7th on Steam's Most Played Games list. However, a sharp drop to around 50,000 players was observed on March 16th, 2025, between 17:00 and 23:00 UTC. The cause of this sudden dip remains unclear, and it's uncertain whether bots played a role. The overall trend suggests that the initial novelty of the game may be wearing off.

The developers have been proactive, regularly updating *Banana* with trading cards, event drops, and quality-of-life improvements. They've also engaged the community by allowing user-generated banana art through the Steam Workshop, with creators earning a percentage of sales. Whether these efforts will help *Banana* regain its peak popularity without the aid of bots is yet to be seen.