How Is The Battlefield Player Count Faring in 2023?

Remember Battlefield 1942? The 2002 game set the stage for more realistic FPS games all by itself. 

Joined a bit later by Call of Duty, its biggest direct competitor, and Halo, the three of them comprised the only big top-notch franchises seeing lots of play.

Once battle royale games became popular, that changed entirely. Unfortunately for them, FPSs lost steam and are still trying to get back in the game, pun intended. 

Let’s see how this has affected the Battlefield player count.

Developers: DICE

Year of release: 2021

Platforms: Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S

Genre: First-person shooter (FPS)

Basic Facts About Battlefield (Editor’s Choice)

• Battlefield 2042 had fewer than 10,000 players at the start of 2022.
• The overall peak number of Battlefield V concurrent players is 89,814.
• On Christmas Eve 2021, Battlefield 2042 had around 19,000 concurrent players, and Battlefield V—25,000.
• Battlefield V sold around 7.3 million copies in 2019 alone.
• The Battlefield 4 player count skyrocketed before the release of Battlefield 2042.
• Apex Legends was supposed to be the biggest influence for Battlefield 2042.
• Battlefield 2042 has almost 90,000 negative reviews on Steam.

Battlefield Info

Both Battlefield 2042 and Battlefield V are still fairly popular among their fan bases.

However, even though they are the newest and most important ones at the time of writing, there’s more to the entire franchise than the background of just these two games.

1. Battlefield started off as a series of WWII first-person shooters.

When did Battlefield get popular? Way back during the release of Battlefield 1942—the very first game in the entire franchise… which is now exactly 20 years ago. 

The franchise, just like Call of Duty, has been controversial from the get-go and faced many issues. For starters, Battlefield 1942 already had an underwhelming single-player component.

Why did Battlefield get popular then, you might ask? The multiplayer component of the game was amazingly created and remained consistent through further installments.

Both Call of Duty and Battlefield are some of the oldest, longest-living FPS franchises around, which also explains their popularity.

2. Battlefield 2042 was received very poorly.

Why is Battlefield 2042 so unpopular? Probably because it’s not created that well. 

According to its players, it’s not that fun, it’s missing lots of content and has massive bugs. It received even less attention than its predecessor. More on this later. 

3. Battlefield 2042 was initially planned to be a game inspired by Apex Legends.

There shouldn’t be any Battlefield vs Apex Legends talks, as these are now two completely different games. However, that wasn’t the plan at the beginning.

During the early stages of development, Apex Legends was possibly the biggest influence for Battlefield 2042. Nobody knows exactly why DICE ditched this idea, though, there could be one plausible reason. 

It is fairly possible that 2042 took a more traditional route because of the terrible Battlefield Firestorm player count. Firestorm was a mod for Battlefield V that featured battle royale gameplay.

4. Battlefield V sold around 7.3 million copies in 2019.

According to EA’s CEO, Andrew Wilson, that is a million copies fewer than expected. Given how the game came out in November 2018, this isn’t all that surprising.

There are a lot of reasons why the Battlefield V player count was never really high.

It had serious competition ranging from battle royale games to more promising single player titles like Red Dead Redemption 2. Sure, the game itself hasn’t been well received, but that’s not all—the release date was actually delayed to a time many other games get discounted. 

Battlefield Players

Call of Duty and Battlefield used to be the most popular FPS franchises in the world. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that much anymore with the growing popularity of battle royale games.

5. Battlefield 4 popularity skyrocketed again in 2021, eight years after its release.

Gamers wanted to reminisce even before Battlefield 2042 hit the shelves. They wanted to remember what it was like waging wars set in the future.

The last game before BF 2042 featuring future warfare is 2013’s Battlefield 4.

Battlefield 4 player count became so high in June 2021 that EA had to promptly increase its server capacity. They were filled with gamers that couldn’t wait for the newest Battlefield installment.

6. As of January 2022, Battlefield 2042 had less than 10,000 players on average.

This game just keeps facing an issue after an issue. It barely peaked at 100,590 concurrent players, yet now fails to go over 10,000.

It’s also worth noting that the Battlefield 2042 player count got cut in half just five days after launch. Talk about a bad launch!

7. On the other hand, Battlefield V has around 30,000 concurrent players regularly.

How many people are playing Battlefield V? Believe it or not, way more than Battlefield 2042.

It had a lower peak but what’s more important is that it’s still doing well right now. 

8. Battlefield V’s all-time peak is 89,814 players.

Battlefield V population is still too small, even though this statistic covers only concurrent players on Steam. Nowadays, many games tend to have thousands of concurrent players at any time.

Way more than the 90,000 that Battlefield V managed to amass in July 2021, anyway. Its player numbers are still falling and this next stat makes things even sadder.

9. Battlefield V had more concurrent players than Battlefield 2042 on Christmas Eve 2021.

Do people still play Battlefield V? By now you probably won’t be that surprised to learn that on Christmas Eve 2021 its concurrent player count was larger than that of BF 2042—25,000 and 19,000, respectively. 

At the time, neither 2042, nor V received much content. That said, those that started playing V are even more unlikely to make the move to 2042 because of this.

Battlefield News

We’ve handpicked a few to highlight how Battlefield’s newest game is being perceived among players and users all around.

Read on!

10. Battlefield 2042 now has over 88,000 negative reviews on Steam.

The game was so poorly received that will likely impact the Battlefield player count in 2022.

It has fallen victim to review bombing, though not the kind you’d expect. This time around, the reason isn’t external factors but the product itself.

11. The game had such a bad launch that people quickly started requesting refunds.

Battlefield games have a tradition of enduring bad launches, then getting somewhat fixed with future updates. The same might happen to Battlefield 2042. Until then, it wouldn’t be out of line to call the situation atrocious.

Not only is the Battlefield 2042 player count dropping, fans are actually requesting refunds. Unfortunately for EA, since many have preordered the game, they are eligible for a refund.

12. Battlefield 2042’s direct competitor, Call of Duty Vanguard, was also terribly received.

Finally, some good news for EA and DICE—the Battlefield 2042 player count isn’t the only one that’s failing.

The most recent Call of Duty game is basically facing the same issues—they’re both filled with bugs and glitches. As for their content, it was definitely perceived as disappointing and unimpressive.

Unlike 2042, Vanguard has a single player campaign, though that’s far from enough to make it better. There’s no winner in the evergreen Battlefield vs Call of Duty debate.

Both are losers for now.

13. Even cheat sellers gave up from Battlefield 2042.

There are actual people selling game cheats for a living. None does it for BF2042. It’s so glitchy and unpopular, that even they are giving up. 

The game isn’t cheap, so there weren’t many cheaters in the first place. At least one good thing came from the rapidly falling Battlefield 2042 player count.

Wrap Up

The newer Battlefield games were put in a bad spot, especially due to the insane competition they’re subjected to. Both Battlefield and Call of Duty are overwhelmed by the new craze that is battle royale. 

The entire series’ future doesn’t look that bright either. EA needs to adapt and completely change its approach to the games. Maybe they should try harder on the streaming scene but probably they should simply start making better quality games.

As we’ve already mentioned, Battlefield games tend to get better with subsequent content. Perhaps that would somewhat save the game, ideally if it appears before the Battlefield player count completely collapses.