It is no secret now that EA considersBattlefield 2042to be a major disappointment. Rumors aboutBattlefield 2042becoming free-to-play have been doing the rounds for a few weeks now, as the game’s player count has experienced a massive drop-off since launch. EA has, however, decided against disclosing exactly how well or poorly the game actually sold.
Famed leaker, Tom Henderson recently took to Twitter to report that EA’s quarterly revenue included no mention ofBattlefield 2042’s sales figures. Henderson then went on to report that the company acknowledged thatBattlefield 2042formed less than 10% of the company’s portfolio. In other words, last year’s iteration ofBattlefieldwas absolutely dwarfed by bothApex LegendsandFIFAin terms of the amount of revenue it brought in.
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According to Henderson, this is most likely why the company later outright refused to release the game’s sales figures to the public.EA commented onBattlefield 2042’s performance during a recent shareholders meetingand openly acknowledged the game’s failure to meet expectations. The company has, however, committed to rolling out major updates to keep the fans that actually enjoy the game happy. Analyst Daniel Ahmad stated that EA highlighted working from home proved to be challenging during the shareholder meeting.
Unfortunately, the majority of this information came as no surprise, asBattlefield 2042’s player count has nose-dived since it launched late last year. Despite releasing only a few months ago, the game is no longer even in the top 50 most-played Xbox games anymore. Even the game’s predecessorBattlefield 5overtookBattlefield 2042in player count on Steam.
One of the many reasons forBattlefield 2042’s poor performance is the fact that the game is still suffering from a plethora of technical issues. This is most likely whySeason 1 forBattlefield 2042has been delayedas DICE still needs to work on fixing the game’s technical issues before creating and releasing more content for the title.
EA has allegedly even considered makingBattlefield 2042free-to-play. While on paper this may seem like a good idea, it could alienate fans of the game who have already spent $60 or more on the title. A free-to-play option may bring in more players, but could also bring with it a host of other issues such as an increased risk of cheating. EA would likely be better off by putting the game on EA Play and Xbox Game Pass as this may bring in more revenue with potentially fewer drawbacks.
Battlefield 2042is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
