'Battlefield 2042' First DLC Increased Player Count Sevenfold, Still Less Than 'Battlefield 1’

It’s difficult to think of any modern game that’s flopped quite as hard as Battlefield 2042. I mean, sure, Cyberpunk 2077 was a bit of a hot mess when it released, but its recent updates have given it quite the upgrade - it’s a title that’s no longer worth actively avoiding, which has to count for something. 

The same can’t exactly be said for EA’s struggling FPS. Last month, the game’s first season, Zero Hour, finally went live, bringing with it a new map and weapons, and as you’d expect with any update to any game, this has seen the player count surge pretty significantly. When that number was tiny in the first place, though, that doesn’t really mean much. 

Take a look at the trailer for Battlefield 2042's first season right here.

At the time of writing, according to Steam Charts, the current 24-hour concurrent player peak for Battlefield 2042 is 7,636. You may remember that back in April, the number fell into triple digit territory for the first time - 976 to be exact - so in comparison to that, the current figures are pretty great. They’re over seven times as big, after all.

Things become quite a bit less impressive when you begin looking at the concurrent player counts for the other games in the series, though. Battlefield 1 (as in, the 10th game in the series which came out in 2016, not 2002’s Battlefield 1942) has a current 24-hour peak of 8,606, while 2018’s Battlefield V blows it out of the water even further, with a 24-hour peak of 16,391. It’s, uh, quite a difference.

By the end of the week, Battlefield 3 is also likely to see a surge in players, thanks to the all-new Reality Mod, launching on 17 July. The fan-made project has been years in the making, and is set to completely overhaul the gameplay and UI to make things more realistic and tactical. It looks genuinely great - be sure to check it out if you’re interested.