It’s been a busy, important week for the most “mature” of online multiplayer games, with The First Descendant and Once Human both finally racing against each other the Steam storefront. However, neither has the sheer force nor popularity to beat the free smash hit Banana on the charts.
Post-apocalyptic supernatural monster survival game Once Human has been climbing in the charts the past several days, despite community criticism over many details. The overall impression is that it’s at least able to achieve many of the fixes, and, in its current state, is worth holding out for.
At the time of writing, the peak player count continued a massive daily climb to nearly 192,000 concurrent players as the global weekend kicked in, higher than yesterday’s of over 162,000.
While it still has yet to beat the new sci-fi looter shooter The First Descendant, which comes from heavy-swinging Korean studio Nexon, the shooter is declining in players. It’s facing more open controversies, between monetization style and borderline plagiarism accusations—though players who know Nexon more for its classic MMORPG MapleStory may clock this as unsurprising.
Still, the fact that The First Descendant’s numbers have stayed relatively down despite the weekend hitting is worrying for it. It does have good feedback in some departments, such as its action and gameplay loops, but it’s up in the air whether that’s sustainable for its own free-to-play model.
Regardless, these don’t hold a candle to Banana, which is, at the time of writing, having its 24-hour and weekly peak at 395,000 players. If you have no idea what this is, it’s a free banana-themed clicker game—with a gift-y twist.
Banana drops a “rare” banana made by devs or community members once every eight to twelve hours, which is not just in-game, but also in the Steam Inventory. These can then be sold on the Steam Marketplace—the good predecessor to blockchain technology. Currently, the highest-selling one is an $817 Crypticnana, which shows “console text” against a black background.
Between the human nature of adoring silly, goofy things and this capitalistic society’s programming of affection towards money, it’s no wonder Banana has been a consistent hit since its release in April and peak in June. While a good dark and dramatic multiplayer experience such as The First Descendant or Once Human can be a good time, sometimes, simplicity is the winning play.
