ACC player counts in review: February 2022

As the sun starts to shine, the birds start to sing and the bombs drop in Ukraine, we’ve made it to March. After a record-breaking January 2022, how have Assetto Corsa Competizione’s (ACC) player numbers developed over February 2022? Read on to find out!

In this series of articles – I’ve been doing this since March 2020 – I analyze the playercounts from Assetto Corsa Competizione (ACC) using data from both steamdb and steamcharts. I implement the data into my own spreadsheets, creating my own graphics and tables.

A short TL;DR in advance:

  • After the previous month’s meteoric rise, it was expected to stop at some point
  • The first week of February did set a new average weekly player count record (5663)
  • The latter half of February saw the numbers normalize to ~4500, but the game remains in a healthy place

February 2022: comparing daily player counts

Before February, November 2021, December 2021, and January 2022 all showed a strong rise in player numbers. In these three months, the player count rose from 3800 average peak concurrent players to nearly 5400, an approximate 37% rise in player activity during peak hours. Continuing this trend would be near impossible as I explained in last month’s ‘looking forward’ section:

But now, another interesting challenge arises. Will this momentum ACC has gained attract more players from other games (such as iRacing)? Or will the pool of potential new players quickly run dry?

ACC player counts in review: January 2022

I am not surprised to see the numbers slowly dip down again, as can be seen in the graph below showing the peak concurrent player counts for February 2022.

Fig. 1: Peak concurrent player counts for February 2022

February 1st was immediately the peak for the entire month, with a peak concurrent player count of 6015 concurrent players. Saturday 26th saw the lowest count: just 4154 players logged into ACC concurrently at its peak.

Should we be worried about this? I reckon that would be a “no”. The previous three months showed so much growth, an eventual downturn was near impossible to avoid in the long run. ACC’s player numbers still show a very healthy state of the game.

Furthermore, the first week of February had crazy high activity, meaning that the drop towards ~4500 near the end of February seems much more steep than it really is.

February 2022: comparing weekly player counts

Fig. 2: Weekly average concurrent player counts.

The graph above shows the weekly averages. And here we can see that February 2022 does have the honour of setting at least one new record: Week 5 (January 31st – February 6th) has the highest average weekly concurrent player count for ACC of all time with 5663 concurring players!

Beyond that, the numbers steadily declined to the most recent full week (Week 8, February 21 – 27) with an average of 4658. You can see these numbers dipping below the weekly average of 2021, which at the time saw the release of the British GT DLC which boosted player activity at least temporarily.

February 2022: comparing monthly player counts

So if the first week set a record for average activity, and the latter weeks showed a discernible decrease, how does the month as a whole compare to the previous months? Look no further than the graph below!

Fig. 3: All-time peak and average player counts

February’s average came to 5101 concurrent players, which is still the second-best month ever. The 290 drop from 5391 to 5101 is a 5.38% decrease in concurrent player counts.

However, the average (non-concurrent) player count went down from 2510 to 2296, which is a decline of 8.53% over January 2022. The 3.15% difference between these percentages means either people played less outside of peak hours, or people played shorter sessions.

Fig. 4: Relative growth since January 2020
Fig. 5: Absolute growth since January 2020

While the numbers have gone down a bit, ACC’s player numbers are still remarkably high, especially since the last proper content update (v1.8) is already 3 months in the past. Don’t be alarmed: this decrease is the logical thing to happen.

Looking forward to March 2022 and beyond

Next month, player activity will most likely decrease a bit more, unless a new DLC pack drops. There are rumours a new car pack containing at least the new Lamborghini Super Trofeo, Ferrari Challenge Evo and Porsche Cup might see a release fairly soon, but I doubt it would arrive as soon as March.

I personally believe this car pack will hit before the also-hinted-at GT World Challenge America’s DLC.

Therefore, March will most likely end up having ~4500 average peak concurrent players. Which would still put it among the top 8 of months.

All we can do now is enjoy the game and hope we receive news from either 505 or Kunos themselves regarding the potential release date of said car pack.

What are your thoughts? Any prophecies you are willing to share regarding the upcoming month(s)? Let me know in the comments below!

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4 Responses

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