The release of 2042's player count is lower than Farming Simulator's after less than a month.
2042 launched with 3 main game modes: All-out warfare, the classic Battlefield multiplayer; Portal mode, which lets players play and create their own modes on classic maps; and Hazard Zone, a Tarkov-like co-op survival experience. Many long-time Battlefield fans were hopeful that 2042 would spark a resurgence in the franchise and be a true competitor to Call of Duty's newest addition, Vanguard. Instead, 2042 is plagued with bugs, glitches, low fps, bad servers, and more, with the latest patch failing to fix many of these performance issues.
EA games have a history of being bad at launch and improving over time, but hoping for that in Battlefield 2042 is not worth it this time. The game could be good, there is a solid base there that, with continued and developers listening to player , could evolve into a good game. After all, 2042 has almost twice as many players as Battlefield 5 did when it launched in 2018. However, EA's past actions on Battlefield 5 and other AAA titles it has published have proven to many fans that trying to give bad EA games a comeback is never worth it because EA will probably pull the plug on a game just as it's getting off the ground.
Can Battlefield 2042 Make A Comeback After An Awful Launch?
Battlefield 2042 fans are rightly disappointed with the current state of the game, but there is a possibility it could make a comeback with time and commitment from its developer. Despite only having three modes at launch, there is still a depressing list of missing features in 2042, but previous Battlefield titles have had missing game modes added at a later date. 2042 also suffers from performance issues, but these can be worked out over time with regular patches and content updates, especially if the developer prioritizes player .
There are two key examples of EA-published games having late resurgences and ending up being popular once fixed. Battlefield 5 is another example of a Battlefield game struggling early, but the same thing happened with Star Wars: Battlefront 2. At launch, the game did not deliver on its early promises and had one of the most pay-to-win loot box systems at the time, overall at launch, Battlefront 2 was straight-up bad. Fast-forward to 2020 and Battlefront 2 went from awful to not just playable, but a great game generally.
Both games received constant updates adding new content and making fixes to old issues, and eventually, they became solid entries to their respective franchises. What took them over the line and made their comebacks real were making them free for all to play. Battlefield V had a free weekend on Steam in August 2021 which propelled it into the top 10 played games on Steam. Battlefront 2 was given away for free on the Epic Games Store, which resulted in the servers crashing and the Battlefront 2 player count peaking at 19 million. Despite 2042's awful start, there is hope that it could become a much better game in the future.
EA's History Of Axing Games Is Likely Bad For Battlefield 2042
Unfortunately for Battlefield 2042, EA's past treatment of both Battlefield 5 and Star Wars: Battlefront 2 makes the hope of a comeback rather futile. Despite each game making a comeback and becoming popular, they were both shut down very quickly after reaching their peaks. Both games were being played a lot in the early months of 2020, but in April that year, it was announced that both games would receive their final content updates that summer.
EA's decision on shutting down Battlefield 5 can be reasoned to an extent, as DICE's focus would shift to Battlefield 2042. However, EA is currently ignoring anything related to Star Wars Battlefront 3, and with no for Battlefront 2, it appears to be wasting its Star Wars license. Therefore, it is puzzling why EA would stop ing a game that had become popular again if there is seemingly nothing to follow it. It is also worrying that there is currently no word on another Battlefield game coming after 2042, with some fans theorizing that EA will kill the franchise off as they did with the Medal of Honor franchise.
Actions like this show that EA uses a confusing methodology. Games launch with missing content and lots of issues, and very little is said in way of an apology. Then when some of the biggest unfulfilled promises, like with Star Wars Battlefront 2, are finally rectified, EA shuts the games down. Developers and publishers often say this is done to focus resources on newer titles, but the same things end up happening in those games too. If Battlefield 2042 was to follow the same path as 5 and Battlefront 2, which is a long and uncertain one, it could all be in vain if EA just decides to shut it down in a year or so.
Fans should not have to expect games they are excited for, and games they spend money on, to be half-complete when they launch. Buying a game for it to only be complete over a year after it launched is not a healthy relationship between consumer and publisher, yet EA continues to do this. As a result, Battlefield 2042's player numbers have dropped massively, and the game could now face a long road back to popularity. Unfortunately, EA's track record of shelving games just as they reach their potential means Battlefield 2042 doesn't deserve a chance at a comeback.
EA needs to change its strategy if it wants its games to succeed from day one. Compare 2042 to Halo Infinite, which has received lots of praise after its multiplayer was released a month earlier than expected. Infinite had been developed over a longer time period and has been given a much longer beta time than Battlefield gave 2042. EA and DICE could learn a lot by following Halo's example, and if they did, Battlefield 2042 just might have been solid from the start.
