Free-to-play games are by nature extremely popular, especially at launch, allowing anyone with the correct gaming platform and an internet connection to download the game and jump straight into the fun, all at no cost.
In recent years many more games have been released as free-to-play or have subsequently made the switch, jumping on the success of the model, which sees money be primarily made from microtransactions and battle passes. As the competition gets even more fierce, and time goes by, many once-popular free-to-play games have seen drastic drop-offs in player counts and are almost dead.
Steam Charts has been used for the stats.
7 Kingdom: Classic
Year Released | All-Time Peak Steam Player Count | Peak Steam Player Count In The Last 30 Days |
2015 | 63,740* | 129* |
Kingdom: Classic is a cozy management game that harkens back to the times of internet browser games. It is a 2D sidescroller set in a fantasy medieval kingdom, complete with beautiful pixel art.
Players will take on the role of king or queen and must make every coin count as they gallop through the procedurally generated world. While the game once peaked quite high in late 2017, there are now only around a hundred players on at once.
6 Splitgate
Year Released | All-Time Peak Steam Player Count | Peak Steam Player Count In The Last 30 Days |
2019 | 67,724* | 824* |
There are many great free-to-play shooters on the market, which means any new shooters must feature unique twists in order to draw players in. This is something that Splitgate was able to achieve with its incorporation of portals, similar to those found in the iconic Portal series.
With portals, players can surprise enemies with flanks and fly high through the map, but sadly Splitgate's own heights were soon cut short and hardly anyone is playing the game these days.
5 Bless Unleashed
Year Released | All-Time Peak Steam Player Count | Peak Steam Player Count In The Last 30 Days |
2020 | 76,273* | 1,197* |
Bless Unleashed is an MMORPG that was originally released on consoles, but soon found its way onto PC. Despite enjoying a few months of popularity after release, Bless Unleashed soon saw its player base decline.
While the game doesn't have too many faults, there are many fantastic MMORPGs to compete with and Bless Unleashed doesn't appear to have offered anything too unique.
4 Realm Royale Reforged
Year Released | All-Time Peak Steam Player Count | Peak Steam Player Count In The Last 30 Days |
2018 | 104,557* | 908* |
Realm Royale was one of the many great battle royale games to release in the wake of the genre's big boom. Like Fortnite, it is a third-person shooter with light-hearted cartoonish graphics. However, it differs from the giant in numerous ways.
For example, players can choose from a range of classes, including mage, hunter, warrior, assassin, and engineer, all of which dictate how the game is played. The game also has a fantasy medieval aesthetic which includes mounts players can travel around on. However, despite once enjoying some popularity, Realm Royale Reforged is now almost dead.
3 Z1 Battle Royale
Year Released | All-Time Peak Steam Player Count | Peak Steam Player Count In The Last 30 Days |
2015 | 150,179* | 1,365* |
Z1 Battle Royale, previously known as H1Z1, is considered to be the first proper battle royale game, spawning from a king of the hill mode for H1Z1. For many years it enjoyed great success before it was overtaken by games such as PUBG: Battlegrounds and Fortnite.
While the game looked like it would soon be dead, a new management team is attempting to restore the game to its classic roots and a small resurgence in returning players has been seen. Like any video game remake though, only time will tell if Z1 Battle Royale will be able to return to its former glory.
2 MultiVersus
Year Released | All-Time Peak Steam Player Count | Peak Steam Player Count In The Last 30 Days |
2022 | 153,044* | 467* |
MultiVersus took the gaming world by storm back in July 2022 with its incredible cast of crossover characters. In this fighting game, players can play as a whole variety of unlikely heroes from LeBron James and Batman to Game of Thrones' Arya Stark and even Bugs Bunny.
Even complete with themed stages, this was not enough to retain the interests of its player base and MultiVersus has since seen an overwhelming drop-off in player count.
1 Dota Underlords
Year Released | All-Time Peak Steam Player Count | Peak Steam Player Count In The Last 30 Days |
2019 | 202,254* | 2,677* |
Dota Underlords is an auto-battler, or auto-chess game, and uses characters and themes from Dota 2. On launch, the game which was inspired by a community game mode for Dota 2, was able to bring in many players, but interest soon dwindled.
One reason why Dota Underlords is almost a dead game is that it cannot compete with the size and success of Teamfight Tactics, which is League of Legends' take on the genre. TFT has a lot more depth, which players will need advanced tips for.