Where Does the Hearthstone Player Count Stand in 2023?

Believe it or not, card-based video games are still very popular. Their fame is comparable to other video games genres! Well, at least Hearthstone’s fame is.

Blizzard’s Hearthstone is one of the most successful titles in recent times. It changed the entire industry of card and free-to-play games.

The number of copies it has spawned is unparalleled. But as the years go by and the game grows old, the Hearthstone player count slowly decreases as well. Still, it has a loyal fan base.

Join us to learn more about the game’s recent updates, player count, and more.

Developers: Blizzard Entertainment

Year of release: 2014

Platforms: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android

Genre: Digital collectible card game (CCG)

Impressive Facts About Hearthstone

• Hearthstone has over 100 million registered players.
• The Hearthstone player base is 10 times bigger than it was in 2014.
• The Chinese server has the most Legend players.
• In December 2021, Hearthstone had around 4,016,601 players.
• Most of them were from the US and Russia.
• Every eight months, the company releases 270 new cards.
• Hearthstone’s revenue has been decreasing since the end of 2019.

Hearthstone Info

Let’s start with the basics—the game’s launch and card base.

1. Hearthstone had its closed beta in 2013.

(Source: Hearthstone)

When did Hearthstone get popular? Right away, it seems.

Long before the game was officially released, it had a closed beta version, followed by an open beta. These stages of the game were among the most popular ones.

Why did Hearthstone get popular?

Thanks to the successful betas and the fact Hearthstone was developed by Blizzard Entertainment, it became an instant hit. Its simplicity, short games, and tablet versions also helped. Plus, it’s free to play.

Other games by Blizzard, like Overwatch, might be more popular, but Hearthstone is doing okay too.

2. Hearthstone has 4,366 cards.

(Source: Hearthstone Wiki)

Even though it’s easy to learn and play, Hearthstone has an intricate design.

How many cards are in Hearthstone? After the expansion set Ashes of Outland, the game has 4,336 cards.

That said, only 2,496 cards are collectible. Some of the uncollectible cards include boss, removed, debug, system cards, and more.

3. Hearthstone receives 270 new cards every eight months.

(Source: Polygon)

The game is well-known for its rapid flow of new cards.

Initially, it released 180 new cards every eight months. However, as of December 2017, it increased that number to 270. Forty-six of all thоse are legendaries.

Hearthstone Players

At the time of its peak popularity, Hearthstone was one of the most preferred games by players and streamers.

It made for great over-the-top streams and had simple gameplay attracting people at a rapid rate. Although it had its ups and downs, there are lots of people still playing it.

4. Hearthstone has over 100 million registered players.

(Source: VentureBeat)

Blizzard is not very regular with the player numbers updates. For starters, the exact Hearthstone player count in 2022 is not known yet at the time of writing.

The latest data on the number of registered players the company released is from the end of 2018. Hearthstone had just passed the 100 million player mark.

How many of those are active players is a whole other thing, though. We cover that below.

5. The Hearthstone player count in 2018 was 10 times higher than it was in 2014.

(Source: Statista)

The research conducted by Statista in 2018 also happens to be the last big Hearthstone-related one.

We already mentioned the 100 million registered players the game had in 2018. But the 2014 Hearthstone player base size was also quite impressive.

In March 2014, when the game went public, it already had 10 million players.

This number quickly soared from 10 to 20 million in September 2014. It kept increasing rapidly, passing the 50 million mark in April 2016.

That said, after 2018, the growth became slower. Rumor has it Hearthstone even started losing players.

6. The game had 23,539,539 active players in 2020.

(Source: Hearthstone)

How many people still play Hearthstone?

The numbers change all the time, and most of the recent stats are third-party calculations. Still, Blizzard posted an infographic on its official website revealing that Hearthstone had over 23 million active players in 2020.

Mind that this is the Hearthstone active player count, not the number of registered players.

7. The average number of monthly players for December 2021 was 4,016,601.

(Source: ActivePlayer)

When we look at the Hearthstone player numbers from the previous years, though, we see that there was a huge decrease in 2020 and 2021.

These years, the peak number of active players was just over four million. At the beginning of 2019, the game had nearly eight million average monthly players.

Although the game bounced back after a huge dip to around two million in 2020, it never reached the same heights.

8. Hearthstone has around 300,000 daily players.

(Source: ActivePlayer)

This decrease was evident in the daily numbers as well.

The peak daily player numbers for 2021 ranged from 300 to 430 thousand. In comparison, at the beginning of 2019, it had over 600 thousand peak daily active players in certain months.

Still, that’s better than none. The game isn’t exactly dead… yet.

Hearthstone News

After the 2020 decline in players, things with the game aren’t that dynamic. Still, there is some news about the game from recent months.

9. Most Hearthstone players in 2021 were from the US or Russia.

(Source: PlayerCounter)

More concretely, a staggering 18.31%, or almost one-fifth of the entire Hearthstone player base, is from the US. Russians account for another 11.2% of players.

Brazil, Germany, and Poland follow with 5.7%, 4.9%, and 4.1%, respectively.

10. The Chinese server has the most players ranked Legend in Hearthstone.

(Source: Hearthstone Decks)

What percentage of Hearthstone players are Legend in 2021? Unfortunately, Blizzard doesn’t disclose this information very often.

The newest info we could find is from November 2020. Data shows that the Chinese server had 51,002 Standard and 49,400 Wild players in Legend.

Compared to the previous month, the overall number of Hearthstone players in Legend had increased by 41%.

11. Hearthstone sales have been declining since the end of 2019.

(Source: EarlyGame)

Although recent data about Hearthstone’s revenue isn’t available, it is safe to assume that it’s declining too.

A 2020 Activision Blizzard report suggests that Hearthstone sales were declining. Considering how expensive the game is for ranked play, this is not too surprising.

As the Hearthstone player count started decreasing, the revenue did too.

12. As of January 2022, the leading Hearthstone streamer is SilverName.

(Source: Streams Charts)

Not one, but three of the top Hearthstone streamers are Russians. SilverName is the leading one when it comes to the number of hours watched, average viewers, and peak viewers.

He is followed by VERNI_SHAVERMY and Sinedd92. Although also very popular names, if not even more than the first three, nl_Kripp and dogdog are ranked fourth and fifth.

Due to the relatively slow nature of the game, it is fairly easy to stream and to follow.

Wrap Up

It’s not what it used to be, but Hearthstone still remains a very popular game. Or at least a great way to kill time. Acquiring cards for free is no small task, but then again, you could also play the game casually.

And if you want to try your luck at competitive play, it’s doable if you have the cards. Older players don’t have too big of an advantage, making this a good game for newer players as well.

Yes, the Hearthstone player count is falling, but it still attracts new players.

The game is hard to master but not impossible. Even if you’re completely new to the game, with just a little bit of effort, you’ll be ready in no time.