Ever since the global pandemic broke out video games have become even more popular. Many titles received tens or hundreds of thousands of new players. CS:GO even managed to put an all-time record but what about Valve’s other popular game?
Dota 2’s first few months of 2020 were quite good. The MOBA had 378,000 average players in January and 493,000 in April. That’s where the good news ended though as it has been on the decline ever since. The Dota 2 2020 Battle Pass wasn’t enough to keep some players interested. Another key factor was the lack of The International this year. The biggest esports event in terms of prize money was delayed due to travel restriction which left a lot of fans disappointed but at the same time totally understanding. From April up until October, Dota 2 was losing players each month up until now. In the last 30 days, the game has seen an increase.
While the numbers are not the most impressive ones it’s certainly a good sign. It could be because there’s a second wave of the pandemic ongoing in many countries. Our bet is that it has something to do with the return of Diretide. The beloved Dota 2 Halloween event was missing for the past 7 years and it finally returned. For the first time in quite a while players can actually earn cosmetic rewards by simply playing. There are of course keys you’ll need to open certain treasures, but a lot of skins and seasonal effects are available for free. Valve also made some changes to Dota Plus and even players without a subscription to the service are still able to earn shards and use hero voice lines.
Furthermore, players can now choose whether to recalibrate their rank which makes the ranked experience a lot better.
- READ MORE: Is Dota 2 really dying?
For more Dota 2 news and everything else gaming check out EarlyGame or the EarlyGame Youtube channel.
