19 Million People have Played Battlefield 1

In the war between Call of Duty and Battlefield, the last skirmish proved to be Battlefield’s first decisive victory against its long-dominant opponent. People were tired of the sci-fi setting presented in the latest Call of Duty offering, while they were equally excited to explore the psudo-historical wonderland of Battlefield 1, which took them to a war rarely explored in modern gaming, or even modern media. So people flocked there, and while the return to WW2 seems to be enough to win back the more fair-weather of these fans, there’s no denying that Battlefield 1 made a huge impact in the FPS world… and that the numbers it drew were staggering.

Specifically, in a recent 2017 Financial Year Report, EA CEO Andrew Wilson said that so far the game has had 19 million unique players battling in the fields of Europe, 50% more than they saw in Battlefield 4 for the same period of time. That 19 million doesn’t mean that 19 million are playing right now: it just means that 19 million people have logged in at least once during that time. Which speaks well for the sales.

It makes sense, then, that EA would double down on its commitment to the game:

"Every Battlefield 1 player will have more ways to play throughout the year, with continual game updates, new maps, and three more expansion packs adding new armies, regions and battlegrounds available to the whole community”

You can read the whole report here, if you want, but that’s the real highlight, I think. It’s a pity that these expansions will be dividing the Battlefield 1 community, but all-in-all, I’d say I’m pretty happy that EA’s gambit regarding the setting of the game paid off.

Although by the time we see a new Battlefield game, we’ll all likely be very sick of the trenches of World War 1.