Released six years ago, "Battlefield 1" (opens in new tab) is now enjoying a petit renaissance on Steam. The 51,000 figure is nearly ten times the 24-hour peak of the recently released "Battlefield 2042" (opens in new tab). This data comes courtesy of the unrivaled statistics tracking site SteamDB (opens in new tab).

If you're wondering why gamers are returning to the Great War, the current 88% off sale on Battlefield 1 is a clear indication. It's not American or European players driving the surge, either. In East Asian time zones like China Standard Time, such large player numbers are concentrated between 12:00 and 14:00 UTC, the peak gaming hours of 8:00 and 10:00 PM.

The huge boom in arguably outdated series productions looks a bit troubling after all the hoopla surrounding the change to a series format for "Battlefield 2042," but in all likelihood, this is a passing fad born on the backside of a big deal. If "2042" suddenly starts selling for peanuts, too, you better believe that we'll be inundated with players looking to try out a game we actually quite enjoyed (opens in new tab).

"Battlefield 1," first released in 2016 and added to Steam in 2020, took the series back to World War I with an anthology campaign that focused on a fairly clever, untapped and broad setting (opens in new tab). PC Gamer UK's editor-in-chief Phil Savage gave the game a high rating of 89% (opens in new tab) at launch, which is pretty much what everyone always talks about when it comes to "historical accuracy." [Battlefield 1 and Battlefield 5] brought the series back to its roots as a historical shooter as opposed to a modern or near-future one, and as a fan of "BF1942" and its mod, "The Great War", with its hellishly slow tanks and horsepower artillery I enjoyed this spot-on piece immensely.

"Battlefield 2042" is more controversial among fans of the series because it changed the fundamentals of how to play, including revamping the class system. However, EA has not given up yet (opens in new tab). The game also offers unique fun features that stimulate user creativity, such as the Battlefield Portal mode (opens in new tab).