In November, three of the biggest shooter franchises released new installments: CoD Vanguard, Battlefield 2042 and Halo Infinite. The latter is currently considered the best shooter of 2021, yet the attention is on the other franchises. An analysis.
What kind of games are these? Halo, Call of Duty, and Battlefield. These are three of the biggest shooter franchises in the world. Each of these brands released its latest installment in November. A significant three-way battle began between November 5 and November 19.
- On November 5, CoD Vanguard was released, set in World War II and offering both a campaign and a multiplayer.
- On November 15, the multiplayer of Halo Infinite surprisingly launched. Originally, a release was scheduled for December 8, but it received a surprising shadow drop for the Xbox anniversary. The campaign follows at the planned release in early December.
- On November 19, Battlefield 2042 was released last, shifting the series back to a modern warfare setting for the first time since Battlefield 4, and even set in the near future. Unlike earlier installments, developer DICE focused on multiplayer with its 4 game modes and omitted a campaign.
Each release had its issues, yet a clear winner can be identified. Halo Infinite had a better launch with both the press and players and is seen by many as the best shooter of 2021.
Still, it also shows that overall, there is much more discussion about Battlefield and CoD in Germany. We attempt to analyze the data and explain why Halo Infinite, despite a significantly smaller hype, won the shooter crown of 2021.
CoD and Battlefield are much more popular in Germany than Halo
How can this be recognized? Thanks to Google Trends, one can clearly see which of the three big shooters is searched for more often overall, thus generating more attention.
We looked at the last three months and compared all three. The results clearly show: Halo Infinite simply does not attract as much interest as CoD or Battlefield.
Roughly speaking, the used graph shows the interest over time. 100 thus represents the highest search interest.
- Yellow = Battlefield 2042
- Red = CoD Vanguard
- Blue = Halo Infinite
In Germany, it is evident that Battlefield 2042 and CoD Vanguard attracted significantly more players than Halo Infinite. Its peak interest occurred just around the release, which was not particularly significant.
Only recently have the games started to come closer together as their releases recede. The interest in Halo is rising slightly, while that in CoD and Battlefield is decreasing.
What is the situation worldwide? Worldwide, the situation changes especially after the release of Halo Infinite for the shooter, but here too, it lagged behind the competition for a long time:
For a long time, CoD and Battlefield were far ahead of Halo. Only with the release of the games do we see Halo now drawing more players worldwide than CoD or Battlefield. Perhaps the declining interest in the competitors is related to their mixed releases.
Possible reasons for the differences: A clear factor influencing interest is the platforms that a game is available on. Halo Infinite has a decisive disadvantage compared to the competition: It is only playable on PC and Xbox consoles.
Since the shooter is not available on PlayStation consoles, there is a huge part of the player base that simply has no access to the game and therefore likely has minimal interest in it.
Here, CoD and Battlefield have a clear advantage with their established fan base. However, another factor could also play a role:
- Halo Infinite was announced over 2 years ago at E3 2019.
- The predecessor, Halo 5, was released on October 27, 2015, thus being over 6 years old. This didn’t meet with great enthusiasm among players.
- Halo Infinite has been delayed multiple times since then. The first look at the campaign was received so poorly by fans that the game had to be postponed – and missed the launch of the new Xbox console.
All of this diminished the attention and anticipation for a new Halo. Meanwhile, CoD consistently delivers a new installment every year, and excitement for a new Battlefield with a modern war setting was quite high.
Now, several weeks later, Halo Infinite seems to have had the only successful release among the three titles, even though the campaign hasn’t even been released yet.
Back in July, I addressed this topic and saw Halo ahead of Battlefield despite greater hype:
Halo Infinite wins in ratings and player numbers
That’s why Halo won this battle: It’s not easy to compare the three games based on pure data. CoD Vanguard is only available on Battle.net, for example. There are no user scores there, as on Steam. However, it is found on Metacritic.
Battlefield 2042 and Halo Infinite are both available on Steam, but also run on other launchers like the Xbox PC Hub or EA’s Origin launcher. There are no reviews there either.
Nevertheless, comparisons can certainly be made:
- Battlefield 2042 received around 63,000 reviews on Steam – of which only 35% are positive (via Steam). On Metacritic, it received scores between 64 and 69 points from critics, with a user score ranging from 2.2 to 3.0. (via Metacritic)
- CoD Vanguard scored between 72 and 74 points on Metacritic, with a user score ranging from 3.5 to 5.1. (via Metacritic)
- Halo Infinite has only clear data on Steam. Here, over 89,000 players have rated the free-to-play shooter. The game holds 80% positive reviews. (via Steam)
Regarding players, Halo Infinite is thus clearly ahead of CoD and Battlefield. There is no statistic for Metacritic yet since the game officially releases on December 8.
But player numbers also indicate: Halo Infinite is significantly ahead of Battlefield 2042 and has been able to retain its players better since release.
- While Battlefield 2042 started with over 100,000 concurrent players, numbers have steadily declined over the past few weeks. Now, the game reaches a maximum of about 30,000 concurrent players per day. It has thus lost 70% of its players in just a few weeks.
- Halo Infinite has remained relatively stable and has nearly hit the 100,000 mark daily since release. In the first weeks, numbers even rose above 200,000 players.
- Although Halo is a F2P title, it becomes even more significant that so many Steam players who paid for Battlefield 2042 have already lost interest.
via steamcharts 
via steamcharts
Unfortunately, we cannot determine how the numbers look for CoD Vanguard. There are no statistics available for Battle.net.
Although Halo Infinite is received better by players and critics and at least has more players than Battlefield, the competition overall receives significantly more attention.
Why did Halo win the battle despite less attention? Ultimately, there are probably simple reasons for this.
On one hand, Battlefield 2042 had a release characterized by technical issues, missing features, and controversial design decisions.
On the other hand, CoD Vanguard was unable to generate significant hype and sold 40% less than its predecessor CoD Cold War. The setting in World War II is also to blame: Few players can still get excited about it.
Halo Infinite had hardly any technical issues and is also free to play. Thus, many more players are checking out the shooter who otherwise might never have tried it.
It’s also possible that disappointed CoD and Battlefield players ended up at Halo. Thus, it was able to take advantage of the timing and shine alongside the competition with flawless gameplay and refined technology.
Of course, there is also criticism of Halo Infinite. The progression system around the battle pass is particularly criticized. Leaked shop prices were also not well received by fans.
The developer has already promised improvements in this regard. Whether Halo Infinite can establish itself against the shooter competition in the long term remains to be seen.
At this point in time, however, much suggests that it has seized the shooter crown of 2021. Nevertheless, the main interest will likely always lie with Battlefield and CoD.
But what do you think about this topic? Do you find such analyses exciting? Or are you less interested in the comparison? I would like to read your comments on this.
If you’ve never played Halo and are now intrigued, we recommend you this short explanation of the features of Halo Infinite:
Halo Infinite has launched on Steam and Xbox – Who should check out the multiplayer?
