ACC player counts in review: March 2022

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“I hope we receive news from either 505 or Kunos themselves regarding the potential release date of said car pack”, I said in February’s post. And that is exactly what we got. We did not only get the word about it – we got it. Want to know how this influenced the player statistics of Assetto Corsa Competizione (ACC)? 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:

  • March 2022 saw the surprise release of the Challengers DLC-pack
  • Player activity before release was steady at an average of 4500 concurrent players
  • Since release, the concurrent player count is inching towards 6000!

March 2022: comparing daily player counts

First, a bit of context. In February, the player count dropped from a weekly average of ~5600 to a weekly average of ~4600, culminating in a monthly average of about 5100. March would have to stop this downward trend. But was it able to?

Fig. 1: Peak concurrent player counts for March 2022 (up until the release of the Challengers pack DLC)

Actually, it was. Yes, the average concurrent player counts did drop a bit further, to a weekly average of ~4400. However, even without the Challenger DLC-pack released the player count was (slightly) recovering, as can be determined from the slight upward angle of the trendline in figure 1.

Despite this, Saturday 18 March was this month’s lowest concurrent player count with just 4180, i.e. towards the tail-end of the month (preceding the DLC release). On the other hand, Sunday 13 March saw us hit 5099 peak concurrent players, which would’ve probably been the highest all month had the DLC not been released this month.

Talking about the DLC release, let us see what that meant for the peak concurrent player numbers in figure 1b below;

Fig. 1b: Peak concurrent player counts for March 2022

Understandably, the release of the DLC pack immediately set a new peak concurrent record for this month, at 6623 peak concurrent players. This is still some ways short of the all-time high of 7223.

As with all DLC releases, this peak is followed by a downward trend. Interestingly though, after an initial dip, the peak concurrent player counts started rising again after the weekend.

The reason for this dip during the weekend can mostly be ascribed to the Saudi Arabia Formula 1 Grand Prix, which took place right around when ACC would normally have hit its peak concurrent player count for the day. You can clearly see when people close down ACC to start watching F1 in the graphic to the right.

Race Week in F1, effect on ACC

March 2022: comparing weekly player counts

Fig. 2: Weekly average concurrent player counts.

As I said before, February saw a sharp decline from 5600 all the way down to 4600 in terms of weekly averages. I expected this had not been the end of this downward trend, and I was somewhat right: the first week of March bottomed out at 4417. This proved to be March’s lowest point, as the subsequent weeks saw the numbers slightly increasing: first to 4465, then to 4491.

These weeks are slightly lower than 2021’s numbers in the same period, but those weeks followed upon the release of the British GT DLC. And of course, once the DLC pack was released, the average peak player count rose to 5299 – higher than 2021’s release of British GT (5219).

March 2022: comparing monthly player counts

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

On average, March saw 4840 peak concurrent players. However, this is mostly boosted by the DLC release. Up until its release, the average had been 4462. The 9 days after its release averaged in at 5765.

The average (non-concurrent) player count dropped from 2296 to 2092, an 8.9% decrease. If you’re familiar with my previous posts, you might already know that this might indicate people are playing shorter sessions or at the very least less outside of peak hours. Might, because it is impossible to be certain with the type of data I have access to.

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

The concurrent average for March 2022, 4840, is a decrease of 261 average concurrent players, or 5.12%. This decrease is slightly less than last month’s decrease. And yet, if not for the DLC release, it would’ve been a lot higher (-12.5%).

Looking forward to April 2022 and beyond

I began writing this article on the first of April. Unfortunately for me, I fell ill with the flue. Now that I’m halfway recovered, a couple of days have passed. Days within which ACC’s concurrent player counts kept a very strong peak. So much so, that April 3rd’s peak concurrent almost surpassed the peak caused by the DLC release.

It seems to me that April might be able to set new records if the game keeps this momentum up.

However, now that the Challengers DLC has dropped, there is only one piece of ‘announced’ DLC left. Not so much announced as ‘hinted at’. While April might set records, it is unlikely that ACC will keep these numbers up during the summer months, which are historically quite low in terms of activity for ACC.

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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2 Responses

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    […] March 2022 (avg. 4840, -5.12%) […]

  2. ACC player counts in review: February 2023 - FELIXDICIT
    March 1, 2023

    […] March 2022 (avg. 4840, -5.12%) […]

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