Since Season 1 (finally) began in Battlefield 2042, players have been returning. At the same time, Halo's lack of content has forced most players to abandon it. And now Battlefield 2042 has twice the playerbase of Halo Infinite.
Despite Battlefield 2042's catastrophic launch (was it as bad as Cyberpunk?), they did eventually begin rolling out new content. For the first 6 months, the game was on life support, and all the updates were focused on bug-fixing, but then in June, Season 1 began. It wasn't the most exciting content we've ever seen, but it breathed just enough life back into the game for players to return. Well, a few players anyway.
By comparison, Halo Infinite had a fantastic launch and was beloved for the first few months post-release. Players just got bored eventually, and were craving more content. And while they continue to wait, Battlefield 2042 has overtaken Halo Infinite for the first time in active player numbers.
Battlefield 2042 vs. Halo Infinite
As of July 2022, Battlefield 2042 has twice as many active players on Steam as Halo Infinite, despite Halo being free-to-play. We noticed this trend on multiple days in early July, as did leaker and gaming influencer Tom Henderson. It seems that the players who returned to Battlefield for Season 1 are actually enjoying themselves and sticking around. Whereas, Halo seems to be in terminal decline.
It should be noted that both games are available on their respective publisher's clients (Battle.net & Origin), as well as Steam. So these numbers are incomplete, but they point us towards an obvious trend: Halo Infinite is dying. This is most likely caused by the lack of content in Halo, which has left players wanting more. And they can't even watch some good pro Halo, as the comp scene has had so few events since the season began.
Now, we know that Halo Infinite is getting a Forge mode, and that should introduce fun arcade-y modes to multiplayer, but there's only one mode with the potential to turn the game around at this point. Yep, you guessed it, Battle Royale. We knowthey're making a Halo Battle Royale, but they need to act quickly and get it out in front of fans before it's too late. If the game falls into complete irrelevance they won't be able to generate hype for its release. Let's see what 343 can do.
What do you think about Halo Infinite's demise? Would you play a Halo BR? Or are you too focused on the next big shooter?