Steam, arguably the biggest video game distribution service out there, has given gamers everywhere access to an incredibly massive library of games, from smaller indies to big AAA titles. Since Steam now houses such a large library of games, many use the service to track the ever-fluctuating success and popularity of games.
Over the years, many Flash games have grown and adapted, especially with the impending shut down of Adobe Flash in 2021. Some of these games have included the hit Super Meat Boy, released via Flash in 2008, which made its way to Steam in 2010. However, one notably classic Flash game franchise has strangely been making its way up the Steam charts as of late.
For one reason or another, the latest entry in the Bloons Tower Defense series, Bloons TD 6 has been climbing the Steam charts recently, topping an all-time peak of 43,840 players as of yesterday. As of this writing, the game holds the number 20 spot for the most played games on Steam.
While number 20 may not initially seem like a number to run home about, it is a massive accomplishment when considering both Steam's huge library of games, and that this puts Bloons TD 6 up in the ranks of games like Terraria, Hades, and even the recent horror hit, Phasmophobia. SteamDB, a tool made to give players insight on the statistics of Steam games, shows a steady increase in the Bloons TD 6's playerbase starting around late November 2020. Additionally, SteamDB shows that starting in December 2020, the game began to see a massive increase in Twitch viewers, as well.
Video games seeing a great increase in their playerbase and rising up the Steam charts as a result is certainly not anything new, but for a game series that was initially relegated to being played on web browsers via Flash or mobile devices, it is quite impressive. Bloons TD 6 is currently raking in thousands of viewers on Twitch, even seeing some recent drama when Dr Disrespect criticized fellow popular streamer xQc for somehow garnering over 60,000 viewers while streaming the wacky tower defense game.
Like the hit 2020 social deduction game Among Us, Bloons TD 6 was initially released a couple of years ago but has not blown up in popularity until now, which has some wondering whether the classic tower defense game will become the Among Us of 2021. That may be too early to decide for now, but it should be interesting to see if any other Flash games find new ways to live on with the shutting down of Adobe Flash Player in 2021.
Source: SteamDB