It looks like things may still be going downhill for Battlefield 2042 as it may already have less players than both Battlefield 5 and Battlefield 1 on Steam. The latest entry in the series launched last November and was met with disappointment from both players and critics. It didn’t take long before Battlefield 2042 joined Steam’s worst-reviewed games list due to the many problems players have faced with the title.
Battlefield 2042’s list of issues is pretty extensive and runs across many of its elements. Apart from a large number of missing features and a general lack of content, players have also faced a myriad of bugs and glitches since the game was released. Server problems and other pain points, such as balance issues, also continue to plague the game to this day. While developer DICE has released several patches and updates to try and address the game’s problems, there’s still a lot to fix. The number of issues Battlefield 2042 has faced and is still currently facing has even caused Steam to issue Battlefield 2042 refunds even long after its usual 14-day time limit for requesting them.
Leaker Tom Henderson has shared an image on Twitter showing Battlefield 2042’s Steam player numbers, taken from SteamCharts, which shows that Battlefield 2042 had fewer players than both Battlefield 1 and Battlefield 5 at the time of the screenshots. The comparison image shows 2042 had 7,242 players 37 minutes before the image was captured, while 1 had 7,356, and 5 had 18,828. Three-year-old Battlefield 5 even hosts a significantly higher peak player count than its newer counterpart over a 24-hour period. On the other hand, Battlefield 2042 still maintains its most all-time peak players position, although it’s unlikely that any of its predecessors will be able to overtake that position. Since Henderson’s tweet, the numbers seem to have dropped further, with 4,808 Battlefield 2042 players as of one hour prior to the time of writing, and an 8,052 24-hour peak.
See the post on Twitter here.
The numbers only give a small and limited glimpse into the actual player numbers of Battlefield 2042 as they only represent a specific time and day on a single platform. While the player numbers of Battlefield 5 do occasionally exceed Battlefield 2042 on certain days, the average and peak number player count of both games over the last 30 days show that the newer title still has more players on Steam. That doesn’t even take into account all the other platforms the new game is available on.
Battlefield 2042 still has a ways to go before it can fully redeem itself from its tumultuous launch in the eyes of the players. With its continuously declining player count, DICE might not have too long before it becomes too late to do that. It’s hoped that 2022 will see renewed interest in the game once its issues have been resolved.
Battlefield 2042 is currently available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
