In the past few days, sites like Game Rant, which we’re seeing for the first time, tracked how Steam users spend their time by comparing two different but new titles from November. One is a farming simulation. modest, while the other is a blockbuster multiplayer shooter. You guess there will be more players on the platform just weeks after launch? As of 6:30pm on November 30, Farming Simulator 22 had beaten Battlefield 2042 in concurrent Steam users. That’s a bit of a surprise, isn’t it?
In the image above (taken from Steam’s own data you can see it here), the numbers on the left represent the current active players for each game, while the numbers on the right are the total number of players for the day. As of the time of this snapshot, Farming Simulator 22 has 3,000 more current players than Battlefield 2042.
However, the time of day is not important when collecting this data. After just a brief 45 minutes, at 7:15 p.m., the tables were leaning in favor of Battlefield with 27,685 active players versus 26,782 Farming Simulator players, which you can see below.
The number of active players will skyrocket throughout the day, but the key numbers to get rid of this are the daily totals which show almost twice as many daily users focused on farming as those engaged in virtual warfare, respectively 79,410 versus 34,599. It’s been a big difference in mindset for Steam users this week.
Now, there are quite a few factors to consider when looking at these numbers. First, we don’t see the whole picture. Battlefield on PC is available in other storefronts like Origin and won’t be included in these stats and it doesn’t take into account console players at all. Second, we’re looking at the numbers late Tuesday afternoon/early evening. Not exactly red-hot hours for gaming. Even so, we can Rant’s game data from this weekend has Farm Sim with 30,000 more active players. And third, while it may not be a huge factor, Farming Simulator is the newer game, releasing all three days after Battlefield, although a bit longer if you consider the early access phase of the game. year 2042.
Whether these numbers matter or not is entirely up to EA and Dice who can see the big picture. But what is the perception when the public can see whether a big, exciting AAA release seems less popular than a crop.
If you want to know more about Battlefield 2042, we have a review you can read right here from our own Alex Van Aken.
What are you playing right now? Are you one of the many Farm Sim fans or are you into Battlefield? Is your Steam time going towards something completely different Encode? Let us know in the comments below!
