ACC Playercounts in Review: June 2021

It’s July so that means it’s time to review the player numbers for the past month: June (2021). In short: June wasn’t a good month. I was expecting the average peak playercount to go down, but not by as much as it did. In last month’s report I expected the number to go down to ~4700. Unfortunately, it dropped down to ~4300 (4296).

A short TL;DR in advance:

• June 2021 started with a free weekend, which set a new concurrent playercount record of 6926 peak concurrent players
• The first week of June had, because of the free weekend, a record average of 5292 peak concurrent players
• After the boost from the free weekend, the game averaged ~3700 peak concurrent players, a significant drop of ~20% to May.

In this series of articles 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.

June 2021 playercounts

June started out spectacularly. Boosted by a free weekend, the concurrent playercounts saw a new peak record of 6926 on Sunday June 6th. The average for this week came to 5292, breaking another record by beating week 6’s 5219 by a decent margin.

This enthusiasm was, however, followed by a sharp decline. The lowest peak concurrent was hit on Wednesday 23rd, with just 3179 peak concurrent players. That same week, the average came down to 3681 concurrent players, about 1000 concurrent players less than what had been normal numbers.

This drop-off becomes more noticeable when looking at the weekly averages chart above. The average was on its way down before the free weekend, but was temporarily boosted by it. When the weekend was over, the numbers quickly settled back to their normal position, which is ~3700.

The total average for June went down to 4296 from last month’s 4849. That’s a decrease of 553 average concurrent players. The only time we saw a larger decrease was August 2020, when the concurrent playercounts went down by 631 (or -19%). However, July 2020 saw the release of the GT4 DLC which temporarily (~2 weeks) boosted the numbers.

Last year (2020) saw a 8.28% decrease of players in June, probably due to the weather as well. This year, that number was a bit higher: -11.40%. If we remove the free weekend from the equation, that number is even worse. The average would’ve been 3795, or a 21.74% decrease.

I’ve been predicting the numbers to go down as soon as the corona measures ease off and the weather improves. I think this is exactly what happened to make the numbers go down like this. The fact that Fridays are generally the worst performing days this month seems to further support this claim.

To contrast this, the average playercount only went down by 5%. This difference might indicate that people aren’t playing as much less as the peak concurrent counts indicate. This might mean two things:

1. People are playing less on peak hours but more spread out through the day (fact).
2. The popularity in other regions, such as Australia (where it is currently winter and thus better conditions for simracing) is not going down but rather picking up (assumption).

One final graph (above) shows the dramatic difference between the general trend we had going before this month and the rollercoaster which was June 2021.

Looking ahead (July 2021 and beyond)

I’ve got to say, this month rather disappointed me. Still, it is no cause for alarm. We already knew the numbers were boosted by circumstance. Last year was already an indication player activity would subside for June. Combine that fact with the corona-vaccination programme paying off causing outside activities to be allowed again and you’ve got the perfect storm causing this rapid decline.

To see a glimmer of hope: the playercount isn’t in a freefall. The last two weeks showed the playercounts stabilizing between 3500-3700 average. I reckon this would be the ‘new normal’ for the coming summer months.

What could bring those numbers back up would be a big update to the game. I’ve been saying this for months now, but I really hope we will be getting v1.8 which is rumoured to be a big overhaul of existing multiplayer-systems, adding quality of life features to the game.

On the topic of updates to the game, ACC saw a few minor updates in June. First, we had 1.7.10 on June 3rd, 1.7.11 on June 10th and lastly 1.7.12 on June 29th. These ‘hotfix’ updates were mostly bugfixes, balance patches and technical improvements. However, version 1.7.12 brought something else with it.

This update brought the new liveries from the 2021 GT World Challenge Europe season. This is good news, because new content is always welcome. However, this might also be bad news for those waiting for a full-on 2021 DLC pack. This could go one of two ways:

1. Adding the 2021 liveries might be Kunos’ way of indicating “here, have the content of 2021 we are planning to make” excluding the tracks used currently not in the game (Valencia and Magny Cours).
2. Adding the 2021 liveries might also be Kunos giving a handout to players desperate for new stuff as a preview of things to come.

Even if we are getting a full 2021 season update, it would only be released after the 2021 season is finished to include accurate BOP (read more about BOP here). So don’t expect it to release before November.

Whatever July will bring, don’t get your hopes up. The average peak playercount will probably dip below 4000 unless a big update is released.

The Steam Summer Sale started June 24th and sees ACC discounted to €15.99 (+€33.26 for all DLC) but this has not improved the playercounts in the way it used to. This could lead one to jump to a whole other set of depressing conclusions, which I’m not going to finish with today.

I hope to see you again next month for another Playercount in Review!

PREVIOUS ARTICLES

• June 2021 (avg. 4296, -11.4%)
• May 2021 (avg. 4849, +3.0%)
• April 2021 (avg. 4709, +3.2%)
• March 2021 (avg. 4565, -6.2%)
• February 2021 (avg. 4867, +8.1%)
• January 2021 (avg. 4501, +12.0%)
• 2020 Round-up
• December 2020 (avg. 4018, -6.9%)
• November 2020 (avg. 4314, +34.0%)
• October 2020 (avg. 3220, +7.9%)
• September 2020 (avg. 2985, +11.1%)
• August 2020 (avg. 2685, -19.0%)
• July 2020 (avg. 3316, +9.8%)
• June 2020 (avg. 3021, -8.5%)
• May 2020 (avg. 3301, +15.4%)
• April 2020 (avg. 2860, +30.6%)
• March 2020 (avg. 2190, +1.4%)

SOCIALS

If you want to stay on top of my latest endeavours, you can follow me on twitter and instagram. I also occasionally post video’s on my youtube-channel if I find the time to do so.