ACC player counts in review: March 2023

We are well into April, but I haven’t written my March review yet. Life got in the way. But there’s still a whole month’s worth of player data for me to go through in regard to Assetto Corsa Competizione (ACC). So, I will finally sit down and review those numbers. How will March have performed against the previous months, and previous March’? You’ll find out, and more, in this post!

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 steamdb. I implement the data into my own spreadsheets, creating my own graphics and tables.

A short TL;DR in advance:

  • Formula 1 is putting a noticeable dent on peak player activity in race weeks
  • The announcement of the new DLC release date on April 19th will most likely cause some records to be broken next month
  • This month can therefore be seen as a silence before the storm, with unremarkable numbers concluding a dull month statistics-wise.

February: comparing daily ACC player counts

Before we do dive into March’s numbers, let’s quickly recap where we left off in February (2023), which TL;DR is posted below;

  • February was able to match January 2023 in pretty much anything, except in terms of growth
  • The final week of February was finally stronger than its 2022 (or 2021) counterpart
  • This could potentially stop the year-on-year decline in March if this trend continues

So, now, let us see what the past month has brought us and find out!

Fig. 1: Peak concurrent (red) and average (grey) player counts

In March, Formula 1 started for its 2023 season. While this is largely unrelated to ACC itself, it does have an impact on its player activity, especially during peak hours. And especially if the race is held during those peak hours. Let me explain.

March featured 4 weekends. 2 of which saw an evening (for EU timezones) F1 race. The first, March 4th-5th, in Bahrain, and the second, March 18th-19th in Saudi Arabia. In these weekends, the peak player count did not reach 5000 players.

In the weekends without an F1 race, the player activity peaked at 5510 (Sunday, March 12th) and 5652 (Sunday, March 26th), with the latter being the highest peak of March. This means that an F1 race causes at least a loss of 500 players during peak hours. Either because they are watching the race or because they are reenacting the race in F1 2022.

The activity of F1 2022 during those weekends seems to make a point for the latter. When looking at the daily (non-peak) average, however, the effect these F1 races had on activity was negligible, with 4 distinct peaks forming on the weekends. This makes a point for the former argument to be the case too.

But, enough about F1. Whereas March 26th had the highest peak activity, March 31st had the lowest at 4149. This is the 3rd lowest peak we’ve had in 2023, behind Valentine’s Day and New Year’s Day, as seen below in Figure 2.

Fig. 2: Combined peak concurrent (red) and average (grey) player counts of 2023

The variance (difference between lowest and highest peak) for March 2023 came to 1509. A 26.7% difference between the highest and lowest peaks. This means the player activity is a lot more constant and thus reliable than in the two previous months, with 32.1% in February and 36.3% in January.

March 2023: comparing weekly ACC player counts

Fig. 3: Weekly average concurrent player counts for 2023 so far.

In terms of weekly averages, the first week of March achieved an average of 4722, as seen above in Figure 3. A bit lower than the last week of February but not by much. The second and third weeks were much the same, but the final week saw an increase to 5198.

To put these weekly averages in perspective, these numbers are just above last year’s average, with the exception of March’s last week. But this was due to the release of the Challengers DLC pack in the corresponding week in 2022, which saw activity rise to its biggest weekly average ever as seen below in Figure 4. Yet, anyways.

The weekly non-peak averages dipped down to 2073, the lowest it’s been all year. However, these numbers also quickly recovered to more average numbers in the subsequent weeks.

Fig. 4: Weekly average peak concurrent player counts for 2023 so far (red) compared to 2022 (white) and 2021 (grey).

March 2023: comparing monthly ACC player counts

And this brings us to the total average for this month’s player statistics. Did March as a whole improve over February?

Fig. 5: All-time peak and average player counts

The short answer (“no”) can be found in Figure 5 above. This month’s average peak average came to 4818, whereas the total average came to 2160.

For the peak average, this is a decrease of 130 players or a decrease of 2.63%. Which is better than what the game experienced in March 2022, when a decrease of 261 or 5.12% occurred.

Similarly, the total average decreased by 106 or 4.68%, but this decrease is lower than last year’s decrease when a 204 decrease meant the game lost 8.89% of its player activity.

Fig. 6: Relative growth since January 2020
Fig. 7: Absolute growth since January 2020

Despite this 2.63% decrease in peak average activity, March 2022 scored an average of 4840. This month’s 4818 peak average means that the year-on-year average only went down by 2, from 4581 to 4579 as seen below in Figure 8.

Fig. 8: 12-month running average of peak concurrent player counts

But, with the end of March 2022 seeing the release of the Challengers DLC, this means a challenge for the year-on-year average to remain similarly constant. The YoY average for this month is taken from April 2022 until March 2023. The next month’s YoY average will run from May 2022 to April 2023. Only a DLC release will be able to make up for the loss of April 2022 for this average to keep it above the 2022 average, which for next month will run from May 2021 to April 2022 (4443 in the graph).

And, well, we’ll get just that.

Looking forward to next month: April 2023

Last month I pled to Kunos for an announcement;

Could we be seeing a DLC release this month? Or at least a hint toward a possible release date? Please?

February 2023 review

Well, I got what I asked for as this month, Kunos announced that the 2023 season DLC for ACC will not only feature 3 new cars (Ferrari 296, Porsche 992, and Lambo Huracan Evo 2) but also a new track with Valencia’s Circuit Ricardo Tormo adding to the existing content.

This release will surely mean a big boost to ACC’s player activity. However, since it will release near the last third of the month (April 19th), it might not set all the records. However, daily and weekly average records are within the realm of possibilities.

Therefore, the past month can be seen as a temporary silence before the storm. And boy, from a statistics point of view, am I curious as to what that storm will bring. I am already fully booked for making custom liveries for the new cars, so I also hope the templates will drop soon after.

What are your thoughts on the future? Let me know in the comments below!

Overview & Previous Articles

2023

2022

2021

2020

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3 Responses

  1. May 1, 2023

    […] April’s undoubtedly record-setting numbers, let’s quickly recap where we left off in March (2023), which TL;DR is posted […]

  2. June 6, 2023

    […] March 2023 (avg. 4818, -2.4%) […]

  3. September 3, 2023

    […] March 2023 (avg. 4818, -2.4%) […]

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