Why Battlefield 2042 Is One Of The Worst Reviewed Games On Steam

In the short time since launching, Battlefield 2042 has landed a place in one of Steam's top-10 lists. Unfortunately, it took a spot in the Hall of Shame, as one of the worst-reviewed games on the platform. At the time of writing, it had climbed out of the bottom 10, to the dizzying rank of 12th most disliked game on Steam. But why all the hate? We'll take a look at why there are so many Battlefield 2042 negative reviews, and what might be in store for the franchise.

Reviews On Steam

Credit: Electronic Arts

First, a quick overview of the current situation on Steam. As we highlighted already, Battlefield 2042 was at one stage sitting in the Top 10 worst-rated games on the Steam 250 Hall of Shame. It's currently sitting in 12th position, after 55936 reviews. This consists of 15901 positive reviews (28.4%) and 40,035 negative reviews (71.6%).

Comments from reviewers are damning. One comment simply says "This might actually be the worst game I've ever played". Another offers a little more detail, saying "This game is victim of a yet [sic] another greedy publisher trying to rush out a game that CLEARLY needed another 6-10 months in the oven to make sure they get the profits from Black Friday and Christmas sales!!!". There are clearly some unhappy players. But why has Battlefield 2042 had so many negative reviews?

Related: How To Fix Battlefield 2042: Common Problems, Issues, Bugs, Glitches and More Explained

Why So Many Negative Reviews?

Credit: Electronic Arts

There are plenty of reasons for players to be critical of the game. Some players are critical of the limited features in the game. Others dislike the gameplay, and feel that focus was placed on things like weather mechanics over the core player experience. Others made reference to the lack of content, comparing the 83 weapons that they claim were available at launch on Battlefield 4, with the 23 weapons available on Battlefield 2042.

And then there are the bugs. There is a long list of technical issues, errors, and glitches that have spoiled the experience for players all over the world. The game launch was already delayed, but even with the additional time to iron out a few of the flaws, there is still a multitude of problems with the game. And ultimately, when players feel like a game is rushed, and the experience falls short of expectations, it is always likely to lead to this sort of criticism. See the reaction to Cyberpunk 2077, eFootball, and the GTA Trilogy - Definitive Edition, for other examples of this.

What Is Being Done About It?

Credit: Electronic Arts

Luckily, because of the nature of these games, the developers are always able to update them after launch, so the product can be improved and fixed even after release. Look at the way No Man's Sky has changed over the years, as an example of a game that had a shaky start, but has improved considerably in the time since. And Dice, the developer for Battlefield 2042, has already released updates to try to improve the experience for players.

Related: How to Fix Battlefield 2042 Performance Problems and Increase FPS

We can expect more of these to follow. And hopefully, with a bit of time, Battlefield 2042 will start to see the sort of improvements that will repair its reputation, after such a difficult start.

One final point. Despite the negative reaction to the game, it's worth pointing out that Battlefield 2042 remains one of the 20 most-played games on Steam, according to Steamdb.info. It also sits in second place for trending games on Steam over the last seven days, second only to the mighty Farming Simulator 22. The players are there, and clearly keen for this game to be what they were hoping for. Whether EA and Dice can repair the damage to the game's reputation, remains to be seen.