Battlefield 1 is in Steam's top ten bestsellers six years after release
Almost ten times as many people played it as Battlefield 2042 in the past 24 hours
There’s a war going on between instalments in the Battlefield series, and it looks like Battlefield 1 is coming out on top for now. The World War One FPS has been spotted nestled in Steam’s top ten best-selling games rankings (thanks, Emopulse), although it's since slipped out again. Battlefield 1’s also set a record over the weekend for its all-time highest concurrent player numbers, reaching more than 50,000 players in the past 24 hours. I say, tip top.
The most recent entry in the Battlefield franchise, last year’s Battlefield 2042, is sitting at around ten times fewer concurrent players than Battlefield 1. Of course, part of this sudden influx in players will be down to Battlefield 1 being cheap as chips on Steam right now. Yet Battlefield V is still seeing more players than 2042, too.
EA have continued to support the campaign-less Battlefield 2042 despite its rocky start. They are planning to bring campaigns back to the series with the next game though, which is in development at a studio headed by Halo co-creator Marcus Lehto. Ed didn’t feel Battlefield 2042 was in a great state when it launched last November, and thought it could've used more time in the oven.
Brendy took Battlefield 1 for a spin back in 2016 for his review, and thought it was very Battlefield-y. “Even with the addition of Operations mode and the behemoths and the return to a more instinctively dramatic setting, it still feels like Battlefield,” he said. “There’s capture points and there’s guns. There’s deathmatch and there’s conquest. There’s grenade spam and sniper alleys and miraculous dive-bombing pilots who somehow manage to use the terrible flight controls. The Great War might have been unique, but Battlefield 1 isn’t.”
Battlefield 1 is available on Steam and the EA App for WIndows, but it’s currently 88% off on Steam.