Dedicated to StarCraft 2

Legacy of the Void is a trademark and StarCraft is a trademark or registered trademark of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc., in the U.S. and/or other countries.

StarCraft is a real-time strategy game composed of three races: Terran, Zerg, and Protoss. Players manage their attention on economic resources, infrastructure, unit building, unit control, and information. Through these core concepts, the player or agent attempts to defeat the opposition via mechanical skill and perceptive planning.

Blizzard Entertainment’s StarCraft franchise has long been a staple of the video game and esports industry. Nestled among the companies’ other fan favorites: Warcraft and Diablo, Starcraft enthusiasts have enjoyed multiple iterations of content over two decades. Blizzard’s legacy of timeless classics can still be enjoyed by millions around the world, and Starcraft is no exception.

Using the aligulac database for reference we can see a snapshot of active players on StarCraft 2s’ 1v1 ladder since it’s release in 2010. Some sharp variations are centered around events like content releases or holiday seasons.

2019 marks the third consecutive year that average active player numbers have declined from the peak. The move to a free-to-play model bolstered the ranks through 2018, but we can again observe a decline.

Initial launch was in late July 2010. Dismal numbers were reported beginning in march , possibly due to a beta test

Because this data set ended with the beginning of June, asserting a conclusive result would be in err. The last four bi-annual splits have revealed a trend of fewer numbers in the second half of the year. If this hold true for 2019, the total average is at risk of falling further.

For a game of this age, the commitment of the player base is quite remarkable. Despite the downward trend, numbers remain higher than of its first full year after release.

A hallmark of Blizzard’s identity is their ability to foster lifelong interest in the product through immersive lore, community driven focus, and a genuine care for the games they produce. In short, they are fans too.

I would like to note that these numbers do not encompass the entirety of the StarCraft 2 ecosystem. Players who enjoy the different game modes like campaign, team games, Co-op missions, various arcade and custom games are not represented here. Blizzard has a long history of producing amazing titles that withstand the test of time. Thank you for the years of enjoyment.

Credit to http://aligulac.com/ for hosting the database I worked from. Shout out to them for maintaining a fantastic community resource.