Even The Battlefield 2042 DLC Can't Save The Game
Battlefield 2042 is fighting to keep its head above the water, despite already having drowned. The game's launch was an absolute catastrophe as it offered players a broken and unfinished outing for AAA prices. Now, even the Battlefield 2042 DLC can't save DICE's troubled title.
We've already seen a mass revolt of players abandoning the experience in favour of older Battlefield games to get their realistic warfare fix. It was a truly embarrassing affair by EA and DICE, and yet, they continue to support the game in efforts to ignore the huge mistake. They've effectively become the video game industry equivalent of Dril's "I'm not owned!" tweet. Even though Battlefield 2042 has seen a little buff in numbers thanks to the new DLC, it's not nearly enough.
How Many People Are Playing Battlefield 2042 Right Now?
Click to enlargeWho could possibly have seen this coming? Battlefield 2042's first season recently launched, bringing the action of Zero Hour to the game. While there was a little boost to the game's playerbase, it wasn't nearly enough of a buff to keep it from yet another embarrassment.
At the time of writing, the current 24-hour peak of players in Battlefield 2042 on Steam sits at 5,883. It's not exactly great, even by itself for a game released by EA only last year. If that wasn't enough, things get even worse when compared to other games in the series.
How Does Battlefield 2042 Stack Up Against Battlefield V's Players?
Battlefield 2042 hasn't been the top dog of the franchise for a while now, and even in the wake of a boosted playerbase, it still can't stand up to its predecessors. At the time of writing, Battlefield V has topped the latest game with a 16,070 24-hour peak, meaning that there are just under three times as many players wanting to fold back onto an older game rather than play the messy new one. Yikes.
It's an odd precedent, and just imagine if Call of Duty: Vanguard overtook Modern Warfare 2 in popularity. Yeah, we don't see that one happening. Still, DICE refuses to give up on Battlefield 2042, as the developer confirms it is the ONLY game it's focussing on right now. There go your hopes of Star Wars Battlefront 3.
It's embarrassing form for EA and DICE, and it's likely that this is the signifier that Battlefield 2042 simply can't come back from poor numbers. This could really go down in history as one of the genre's biggest blunders. Sorry, EA.
