Despite the fact that Dota 2 was released in 2011, its popularity is not going to fall. Of course, like any project, Dota has periods of decline and popularity, but this does not prevent it from being the second most popular MOBA game in the world after LoL. Let's see how many people play DotA 2 and why is it so popular?
Total number of players
All statistics on the number of gamers in "DotA 2" can be divided into two categories - the total number of audience and permanent online. It is clear that the first value will be many times more due to the fact that the game is already more than 7 years old. Since 2011, the number of players who added Dota 2 to their Steam store library has exceeded 12.5 million. Over the entire time, more than 3 billion matches have been played (rating and public are taken into account).
It is quite difficult to talk about how many people play DotA 2 all the time, since the current online is constantly changing. In early 2016, the game set an absolute record for its entire existence - 880 thousand users in the game at the same time. Moreover, this record was broken only in the second half of 2017 by the PUBG game, which is also distributed via Steam, but for money.
Current online
At the moment, the number of simultaneous players in Dota 2 varies greatly. In the worst days, online can drop to 250-300 thousand users. The average number is kept at 500 thousand players. You can see how many people are playing Dota 2 now and find out the maximum number for the current day using the official statistics of the Steam service. In most cases, Dota 2 is consistently in second place in the ranking by the number of players. The first place has not been inferior to the too popular PUBG for a long time. The well-known MOBA-game sometimes falls to third place, giving way to CS GO or new releases (which is very rare).
Reason for falling interest
By the number of people playing Dota 2, one can judge the sharp decline in online over the past year. This is mainly caused by rare updates from the developers (the last global patch was released more than six months ago) and the lack of events dedicated to the holidays, etc.
The second obvious reason is the gaming community itself. Gamers in “DotA 2” are considered one of the most unpleasant players for team interaction. Chat almost any match replete with insults and taunts. Because of this, many go to other projects, where the administration closely monitors the behavior of players or does not allow them to behave this way.
And the last reason is the rating system, which has not changed dramatically since the release. Against the background of a quite successful system of seasons in LoL, this scheme looks outdated and inaccurate. All these factors together contribute to a constant outflow of people, despite the growing prize and salaries in the professional segment. Now you know how many people play DotA 2 all over the world and why its popularity has fallen markedly over the past year.