What is 'Banana' on Steam and Why is Everyone Playing It?

A game named Banana has been rapidly climbing Steam's most-played list. It has an unbelievably basic premise: click a banana to increase a number. There are no animations, no unlocks, nothing. However, there are times when you come upon an item that you can sell on the marketplace, and this is where the catch is.

What is ‘Banana’?

When you download Banana and launch it, a window will appear. It's a banana against a vomit-green background. When you click on the banana, the numbers will increase. And that's it! You simply click. Every now and then, one of dozens of differently adorned bananas that are currently available, will drop directly into your Steam inventory.

Unlike Counter-Strike, where skins are frequently sold at outrageous rates (one cosmetic went for more than 1 million USD last week), there is no cost to participate. Banana is fully free, skins drop for free, and you may sell in the marketplace for free. So it's a legitimate money farm. 

The gentleman banana, which is a banana with a cap and dress shoes, costs less than $1. The pickle banana, a banana-shaped pickle, costs approximately $15. There was even a golden, sparkling banana that sold for over $1,000. But most bananas, regardless of their appearance, are worth barely anything.

Banana Botting Problem

Last week, almost 141,000 users clicked on a banana at the same time, according to SteamDB. Now, that figure has nearly tripled. Many people are playing Banana, but the statistics aren't exactly right: Banana has a botting problem.

Developers stated that a third of the 141,000 players were real, which equates to approximately 47,000 people. They also said they contacted Valve support to figure out how to stop the problem.

However, Banana has grown steadily since then. As of June 13, Banana was open on more than 372,700 PCs. More of these players may be "real." The game's virality has grown as more people learn about it. The higher it gets on SteamDB, the more people discover it.

Because you don't have to do anything in Banana to get a drop, just click every now and then, it's simple to keep open in the background for legitimate gamers as well.

Outrageous Banana Prices

Each banana is an item that enters your Steam inventory and may subsequently be purchased and sold on the Steam Marketplace. (They do nothing in the game). Most bananas are worth only a few cents; therefore, trading is mostly done with minimal stakes.

The rarer the banana, the higher its price. On May 31, one banana, the Crypticnana, sold for $378.92; it is a mysterious banana with only 25 known to exist. On June 11, the Crypticnana went for $514. But the top banana is the Special Golden Banana (as advertised on the box), which sold for $1,378.58 on June 9 and $964.67 on June 11. There is currently only one advertised for sale, priced at $1,304.12.

Developers stated that they think that it's a legal 'infinite money glitch,' which is why it mostly caught on. Players profit from a free game by offering free virtual goods for sale.

The money you make from selling your virtual bananas is deposited into your Steam Wallet, which you may use to purchase anything on Steam.

The developer team, a group of four people distributed across the world, from South America to Germany, earns the majority of its money from the Banana product store, which offers specific bananas for $0.25. However, the developers and Valve each take a modest share of marketplace sales, with the remainder going to the vendor.

Given the high value of rare skins, it's no surprise that so many people are rushing to Banana in the hopes of making a quick profit. Who is buying them is the big question, although people spending absurd amounts on pixels is not uncommon; just look at the now-defunct NFT market.