Battlefield 2042 has more players now on Steam than it did when it first released almost two years ago, a major about-face for a game heavily criticized at launch as being buggy and unfinished.

According to Steam Charts, on October 15, Battlefield 2042 broke its concurrent player record on Steam with over 101,000 players, just surpassing the 100,590 player-peak of the game's launch. Then, on October 16, it did it again, breaking 103,000 concurrent players. For context, in September, Battlefield 2042's peak player on Steam count reached a high of 11,843 players.

Why the massive jump in player numbers? Battlefield 2042 was free to download and play both on PC and consoles over the weekend and is currently heavily discounted as well. On Steam, the game can currently be bought for under $10, while on consoles it can be picked up for $21. Battlefield 2042 is additionally playable via EA Play and Game Pass Ultimate, with the game's arrival last year on Game Pass in particular being a "huge moment" for the developers, as the team knew it would bring in a large influx of new players. Battlefield 2042's player numbers on consoles and on PC outside of Steam aren't currently known.