Blizzard

How many people play Hearthstone? — 2024 statistics

The Warcraft-inspired online digital collectible card game is printing money.

Fact-checked
Release Date
March 11, 2014
Genre
DCCG
Developer
Blizzard
Publisher
Blizzard

Card games have journeyed through centuries, evolving from tangible decks to immersive online experiences. Hearthstone stands as a testament to this digital evolution. Rooted in the rich lore of the Warcraft universe, it showcases an array of characters familiar to World of Warcraft fans. With every card drawn and match played, one question resonates: How many people play Hearthstone? This game, which has enchanted millions and sparked billions of duels across casual and pro players alike, offers a wealth of data to dissect. Dive into our Hearthstone statistics to grasp the magnitude of its impact over the years. Hearthstone has a very good esports scene, but if you want to know how big is the gaming industry, we can give you some info there, as well.

Hearthstone user stats

The first section we are going to be taking a look at is related to some Hearthstone user stats to see how the game’s user base has been performing and contributing to the game since Hearthstone came out in 2014. A global game like Hearthstone is nothing without its community, so let’s get to it!

Hearthstone has 4.5 million active monthly players.

(Source: ActivePlayer, PlayerCounter)

  • There are between 130,000 and 280,000 average active players at any given time.
  • There are 100 million registered users on Hearthstone.

How many people play Hearthstone? In the first line of statistics, we have answered your most burning question — how many people play Hearthstone? The answer is a whopping 4.5 million people who play the game actively each month. This is a fantastic number of active players which serves well to indicate that the game is very alive and doing quite well. Other than that, we can also see that the number of active players is also impressive, with a third of a million players active during the day.

Heartstone has accumulated over $660 million in mobile revenue since its launch.

(Source: SensorTower)

  • Players in China have spent approximately $161 million on the game.
  • Players from the United States have spent $141 million on the game.
  • South Korea is ranked third with $64 million spent on the game.

One of the best things about games like Hearthstone is the fact that the game is not very demanding, so it can run quite comfortably on basically any mobile device. On top of the game providing you with some incredible gameplay, it’s great when you want to kill some time during your commute, or in class (we know you do it too), basically anywhere you can save some time, some Hearthstone is a fantastic tool. This is why Hearthstone has accumulated so much mobile revenue over the years. When you play something every day, you’re more likely to buy something as well!

Hearthstone made $165 million from mobile players in 2018.

(Source: SensorTower)

  • This presented Blizzard with a 5% increase in revenue compared to the previous year.
  • The total IOS spending on the game in China increased by 34% in the same period.

This is an extension of the previous section that covered Hearthstone’s overall revenue but only for a specific year. Unfortunately, Hearthstone does not usually post its revenue statistics year after year, so the only source of information we have is from 2018. Nevertheless, since Hearthstone is a constantly-evolving game, we can assume that it has seen some similar profit in 2022 as well.

18.31% of Hearthstone players are from the United States.

(Source: PlayerCounter)

  • 11.20% of players are from Russia.
  • 5.68% of players are from Brazil.
  • 4.92% of players are from Germany.
  • 4.11% of players are from Poland.

This is a very common occurrence when we take a look at some of the geographical statistics surrounding games. Most of the time, the largest percentage of a popular game’s player base is going to be in the United States. Similar to the previous line of stats, we cannot exactly discern the exact percentage of players in each region, but PlayerCounter tends to provide us all with accurate information, so we can trust this, for sure.

39% of Hearthstone players are between 25 and 34 years old.

(Source: Reddit)

  • 4.12% of players are between 13 and 17 years old.
  • 33.6% of players are between 18 and 24 years old.
  • 14.09% of players are between 35 and 44 years old.
  • 6.18% of players are between 45 and 55 years old.
  • 2.92% of players are between 55 and 64 years old.

Hearthstone tends to have a slightly older player base compared to other games that target younger audiences such as Fortnite, which is apparent when you look at the statistics. What is also interesting is the fact that Hearthstone also has players that are over 55 years old, which means that the game is so popular that it attracts fans of all age ranges!

Hearthstone had 23.5 million active players in 2020.

(Source: Out Of Cards)

  • Players spent 669.24 million hours in Hearthstone Battlegrounds in 2020.
  • 31 new Battleground Heroes were added.
  • 70 new Battleground minions were added.
  • 160.50 million Skull of Gul’dan cards were played.
  • 489.43 million Demon Hunter matches were played.
  • 43.90 billion spells were cast.
  • 61.42 million Duels matches were played.
  • 291.47 million Arena matches were played.
  • 271.29 million Tavern Brawl matches were played.
  • 3.27 million viewers spectated events.
  • 4 Inn-Vitationals were held.

Here we have some stats concerning the milestones that Hearthstone crossed in 2020, also known as the Year of the Phoenix in the game. As we can see, the players managed to accumulate a considerable amount of matches played, as well as a whopping 43 billion spell casts across the entire year. This is massive as it shows how much the Hearthstone community is dedicated to playing the game to the fullest!

Hearthstone Twitch and esports stats

One of the most prominent features of Hearthstone is its replayability and its competitive nature which can easily attract a large number of fans to come and watch some gameplay. This is why Hearthstone has such a good esports scene. In this section, we are going to be taking a look at some Hearthstone Twitch and esports stats to see what user engagement is like for this fantastic game!

Hearthstone had 213 million hours watched on Twitch in 2022.

(Source: SullyGnome)

  • There were 155 million broadcasting hours on Hearthstone in 2022.
  • Hearthstone had 24,412 average viewers on Twitch in 2022.
  • 177 average channels were streaming the game in 2022.
  • Hearthstone had a viewer ratio of 137.6 throughout 2022.
  • The game’s peak viewers in 2022 were 106,267.
  • There were 77,057 broadcasters streaming the game in 2022.
  • Hearthstone was ranked 21st by average viewers in 2022.

From the Twitch stats Hearthstone has accumulated over the last year, we can see that it is still in very good standing, even if you take into consideration the fact that there have been a ton of viral games to come out in 2022, yet Hearthstone is till ranked 21st by average viewers. Although the latest Hearthstone expansion has been receiving a bit of flak, we’re sure that the game is still going to be raking in more viewers.

The Hearthstone esports scene has awarded $28.89 million in prize pools.

(Source: Esports Earnings)

  • In total, there have been 1007 Hearthstone tournaments.
  • BlizzCon Hearthstone World Championship 2016 had a $1 million prize pool.
  • The same goes for Hearthstone World Championship 2017 and 2018, respectively.
  • All of the other tournaments had prize pools ranging from $500,000 to $4,700.

We can see here that being a professional Hearthstone player is definitely not something that is a waste of time, seeing as the rewards that some of the top players are earning are out of this world, especially for a single-player game. Even though the game has been out since 2014, it has already gathered a massive esports following and a massive total prize pool when you consider all of its tournaments.

The most successful Hearthstone player is Thijs “Thijs” Molendijk with $526,414 in earnings.

(Source: Esports Earnings)

  • He has taken part in 85 tournaments.
  • He is ranked #330 in the world.
  • He is ranked #5 in the Netherlands.

And finally, we’re just going to take a look at some stats concerning the most successful Hearthstone streamer and professional player — Thijs. Thijs is from the Netherlands and has been playing the game since 2013, so you can be sure that he is the person to talk to if you want some quality Hearthstone content. Overall, he has earned over half a million dollars from the game he loves to play, and that is awesome!

To sum up

And there you have all of the Hearthstone statistics and facts you could have asked for! We believe that this is definitely one of the best digital trading card games of all time and the numbers behind it confirm that statement. Hearthstone is nearing its tenth year online and in that time it has amassed millions of dollars in revenue, and even more fans in the process. Although the game has received its fair share of criticism at some points, the amount of good outshines the bad to deliver you some of the best content you can ask for in a card game. We sincerely hope that you have enjoyed the information presented here and that you have learned something new!

Sources

  • “Hearthstone Mobile Revenue Tops $660 Million Since Launch”. SensorTower, 2018, https://sensortower.com/blog/hearthstone-mobile-revenue
  • “Hearthstone Player Count – How Many People Are Playing Now?”. PlayerCounter, 2022, https://playercounter.com/hearthstone/
  • “Hearthstone’s Mobile Players Spent $165 Million Last Year, Up 5% After a 2017 Slump”. SensorTower, 2018, https://sensortower.com/blog/hearthstone-mobile-revenue-2018
  • “Hearthstone Demographics”. Reddit, 2018, https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/6vmro6/hearthstone_demographics/
  • “Hearthstone”. SullyGnome, 2022, https://sullygnome.com/game/Hearthstone_Heroes_of_Warcraft
  • “Thijs “Thijs” Molendijk – Hearthstone Player”. Esports Earnings, 2022, https://www.esportsearnings.com/players/7517-thijs-molendijk
  • “Hearthstone”, Esports Earnings, 2022, https://www.esportsearnings.com/games/328-hearthstone
  • “HearthStone Live Player Counter”. ActivePlayer, 2022, https://activeplayer.io/hearthstone/
  • “Hearthstone Had 23.5 Million Active Players in 2020 – Year of the Phoenix Stats”. Out of Cards, 2021, https://outof.cards/news/2634-hearthstone-had-235-million-active-players-in-2020-year-of-the-phoenix-stats/