South African gamers generally do not have it easy when trying to play older or less popular multiplayer games, as the number of players in the region is far lower than in North America and Europe. These players normally resign themselves to playing on European servers at a much higher ping, however, the Battlefield games have normally had a strong South African community.

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Unfortunately, Battlefield 2042’s low player count has recently even caused the tight-knit South African gaming community to waver. One South African gamer recently revealed in a Reddit post that the only way for South African players to find a game with decent ping is to browse for games in Portal mode. This means that the first person to host a game for the evening has full control over the games in the region.

While annoying, it is nothing that the South African market has not become accustomed to over the years. Issues begin to arise when the host for the night decides to become the judge, jury, and, executioner of anyone who disobeys them by banning these gamers from the only server they can play on with decent ping.

This could soon become an issue in other lower populated regions if Battlefield 2042’s decline in player count continues. In late November last year, Farming Simulator 22 had more players on Steam than Battlefield 2042. Back when this was reported, Battlefield 2042 had around 50,000 players based on a 30-day average, whereas now the game is sitting at around an average of fewer than 6,000 players.

These poor numbers are most likely what caused EA to not report Battlefield 2042’s sales numbers during a quarterly investor meeting. It seems as though the company is receiving very little revenue from the title in its current state, which is most likely one of the main reasons why rumors about the game going free-to-play have been surfacing as of late.

The issues with the game and its low player count have prompted some Battlefield 2042 players to create a petition for refunds. While this is unlikely to happen, the petition currently has over 11,000 signatures, which shows just how unhappy Battlefield fans are with the state of the game.

Battlefield 2042 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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