Battlefield 6 Player Count on Steam Reaches Worrying Milestone

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The number of players currently playing Battlefield 6 has continued to decrease since the holidays, falling below 100,000 and continuing a worrying pattern for the once-popular online game. After the slow improvement of Battlefield 2042, EA introduced Battlefield 6 to enthusiastic fans, promising a return to the series’ realistic style. However, that initial excitement seems to be fading.

EA’s Battlefield 6 launched to great success, boosted by positive feedback from a popular beta test and a return to the series’ roots with large-scale destruction, a single-player story, and a more realistic style. This led to a peak of over 700,000 concurrent players on Steam and made it the best-selling shooter of 2025. Recently, however, the game has faced increasing criticism and player dissatisfaction, leading to a noticeable decline in its player base.

Battlefield 6 Drops Below 100k Players

Data from SteamDB shows that Battlefield 6 recently had its lowest 24-hour player count, dropping below 100,000. This is a significant decrease from the 747,440 players who were playing when the game first launched. While the game started strong, it’s faced challenges since then, and the current player numbers are concerning. It’s important to note that Battlefield 6 isn’t failing completely – it still has a dedicated player base – but it’s nowhere near as popular as it was a few months ago.

This information specifically applies to the PC version of Battlefield 6 on Steam. It’s likely that more people are playing on Xbox and PlayStation, or at least that those player numbers haven’t dropped as much. However, recent complaints and problems suggest that player counts on consoles may also be down. Players have recently criticized Battlefield 6 for a skin that appears copied from Call of Duty, pointed out what seems to be AI-created content, and expressed frustration with the limited time to finish the BF Pro bonus challenges.

After a strong start, things began to decline for Battlefield 6 with the release of Season 1. The new RedSec battle royale mode didn’t resonate with players as EA had hoped. Fans continued to ask for larger maps, and updates kept introducing new bugs. The recent Winter Offensive update has created even more gameplay problems. Surprisingly, Call of Duty is now starting to regain popularity, challenging Battlefield 6‘s position as the top-selling shooter of 2025.

Image via EA

The recent decrease in player numbers for some games might be because of the success of ARC Raiders, which is attracting and keeping a surprisingly large audience. While games where players collect loot and escape are often niche, ARC Raiders has managed to stand out, retaining 91% of its initial Steam players months after launch. This is a significant contrast to Battlefield 6, which has lost about 85% of its Steam player base since October. As Embark Studios continues to develop ARC Raiders, it will be interesting to see how EA plans to regain players for Battlefield in 2026.

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2026-01-06 22:36