Huge sale sends 6-year-old Battlefield 1's player count into the stratosphere

field combat
(Image credit: Electronic Arts)

Six year old Battlefield 2042. This data comes courtesy of inimitable stats-tracking site SteamDB.

If you're wondering why are gamers flocking back to the Great War, look no further than Battlefield 1's current 88% off sale, reducing it to a measly $4.79/£4.19/4,79€. It's not players in the United States or Europe that are driving the spike either. These big player numbers are concentrated between 12:00 and 14:00 UTC, peak gaming hours of between 8pm and 10pm in East Asian time zones like China Standard Time. 

The big boom of an arguably out-of-date entry to the series is a bit of an awkward look after all the hoopla surrounding Battlefield 2042's changes to the series formula, but in all likelihood this is a ing fad born on the back of a great deal. If 2042 was all of a sudden selling for peanuts too, you best believe there'd be an influx of players sampling a game we actually quite enjoyed.

First released in 2016 but added to Steam in 2020, Battlefield 1 took the series back to the first World War with an anthology campaign that focused on a broad spectrum of pretty neat, underexplored didn't hate it.

Battlefield 1 and Battlefield 5 took the series back to its roots as a historical shooter as opposed to something modern day or near future, something I quite enjoyed as a fan of BF1942 and its mod, The Great War, that highlighted slow as hell tanks and horse-powered artillery.

Battlefield 2042 has been much more controversial among series fans for changing some fundamentals of how it plays such as its overhaul of the class system. Nonetheless, Battlefield Portal mode, which allows for exceptional creativity.

Contributor

Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.