Battlefield 1's beta is the biggest in EA's history
And with 13.2 million players, it may also be the biggest of the generation so far
Looking back to World War I may have pointed EA's Battlefield franchise to a brighter future, with the beta of the latest game in the long-running series attracting 13.2 million players.
Those players all participated in Battlefield 1's beta across ten days, between August 30 and September 8. EA DICE has confirmed that the 13.2 million people make it "the biggest beta in EA's history," topping the previous record holder, Star Wars: Battlefront, which attracted more than 9 million players.
As big as Battlefront's beta was, though, it was surpassed in popularity by Blizzard Entertainment's Overwatch, which pulled in 9.7 million in May this year. The question surrounding Battlefield I, then, is whether it's the most popular beta of this generation. While EA hadn't laid claim to that at the time of writing, based on other publicly available figures it seems likely: Ubisoft's The Division had 6.4 million players in its beta, while Activision's Destiny had 4.6 million.
In any case, these will be glad tidings for EA DICE, and EA's shareholders. As Niko Partners' Daniel Ahmad pointed out on Twitter, Destiny, The Division, Battlefront and Overwatch all demonstrate a clear trend.
Battlefield 1 launches on October 21.