Battlefield 2042 has (somehow) risen from the grave

Battlefield 2042 has (somehow) risen from the grave
Images: EA | DICE

Written by 

Joseph Kime

Published 

16th Oct 2023 16:05

It looks like DICE is back in the tank seat, with the recent Battlefield 2042 resurgence seeing its free-to-play weekend attempt undercut the ongoing Modern Warfare 3 Beta. Both have been pulling in shooter fans all over the globe, but for the struggling Battlefield series, it's been a major win.

"How silly they are," we said, as fools. "Battlefield will never be able to claw back what it had hoped for launch!" Well, we owe you, and DICE, an apology. Against all odds, Battlefield has made mugs of us all by kicking back hard.

Battlefield 2042 reaches new player high on Steam

The stats displayed for Battlefield 2042 on Steam Charts, showing a 101,362 player peak.
Click to enlarge
Steam Charts

Well, would you look at that? After the disastrous launch of Battlefield 2042, it was widely thought that the game would be dead and buried - especially as more people were playing 2016's Battlefield 1 instead of the latest entry. As the free-to-play weekend has proved, there's life in the old gal yet.

New data from Steam Charts have shown that Sunday, October 16, saw the game reach an all-new peak. Considering Battlefield came out in 2021, hitting a concurrent player number of 101,362 is truly wild. It's the highest that the game has seen since November 2022.

It doesn't end there, as Battlefield 2042 has experienced a 65% gain in players over the last thirty days. If we've learned anything from this, it's that we underestimated Battlefield 2042, and we're not likely to do it again.

Is Battlefield 2042 back for good?

Given that Battlefield 2042 has just wound down its free weekend, we're going to have to wait and see what this does to the title's standing in the FPS community. Still, it's massively promising for the game that could have been the shooter of the generation.

Much like how Cyberpunk 2077 started breaking its own records with the release of its Phantom Liberty DLC, Battlefield 2042 has been given some much-needed CPR.

If it can hang onto these highs remains to be seen, but with DICE committing to keep the Battlefield series going, the return of Battlefield 2042 couldn't have come at a better time. 

Joseph Kime
About the author
Joseph Kime
Joseph Kime is the Senior Trending News Journalist for GGRecon from Devon, UK. Before graduating from MarJon University with a degree in Journalism, he started writing music reviews for his own website before writing for the likes of FANDOM, Zavvi and The Digital Fix. He is host of the Big Screen Book Club podcast, and author of Building A Universe, a book that chronicles the history of superhero movies. His favourite games include DOOM (2016), Celeste and Pokemon Emerald.
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