Team Fortress 2 reaches record number of concurrent players 14 years after release

Team Fortress 2 recently had over 150,000 concurrent players for the first time. The multiplayer shooter in which two teams compete against each other was released in 2007. Since last year, the number of players is increasing again according to the statistics.

The record for concurrent players now stands at 151,253, which was achieved last week, according to SteamDB. The site is based on the player numbers that Valve announces daily. Last November there was a peak of more than 147,000 players, but this is the first time that more than 150,000 players were active simultaneously.

Simultaneous Team Fortress 2 Players – SteamDB

According to PCGamesN, it is unclear what exactly caused the spike. Some players would report that they encounter surprisingly few cheaters in the game, while others suggest that aimbot makers are actually more active after the latest update, experimenting with new methods of circumventing anti-bot measures.

The increase in player numbers coincides with an update to Team Fortress that came out last week. In it, several cosmetic items were added, which were designed by the community. The increase in the number of players may also have been caused by the release of this update. Team Fortress 2 had not received an update in 112 days. Now that another update is ready after a long time, many players who have played the game before will have received a notification. That may have rekindled their interest.

Team Fortress 2 was first released in 2007. Players can choose from nine different classes in the multiplayer shooter, with different characteristics. In game modes such as capture the flag and king of the hill, two teams of twelve or six players compete against each other. The game has been free to play since 2011.