Battlefield 2042 vs Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Battlefield 2042 is an FPS game from DICE (2021) while Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is a fighting FPS game from DICE (2010).
What each one is
Steam files Battlefield 2042 under FPS. In contrast, it files Battlefield: Bad Company 2 under Fighting and FPS.
Battlefield™ 2042 is a first-person shooter that marks the return to the iconic all-out warfare of the franchise.
Battlefield: Bad Company 2™ brings the award-winning Battlefield gameplay to the forefront of PC gaming with best-in-class vehicular combat and unexpected "Battlefield moments." New vehicles like the ATV and a transport helicopter allow for all-new multiplayer tactics on the Battlefield. With the Frostbite-enabled Destruction 2.
At a glance
| Battlefield 2042 | Battlefield: Bad Company 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| GamingPickz Score | 5.0/10 | 7.8/10 |
| Steam rating | Mixed (47%, 325,628) | Very Positive (85%, 37,378) |
| Critic aggregate | No aggregate | 87/100 |
| Price | $59.99 | Not listed |
| Install size | 100 GB | — |
| Steam Deck | unsupported | playable |
| Released | 2021 | 2010 |
| Developer | DICE | DICE |
Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.
Battlefield 2042 vs Battlefield: Bad Company 2, point by point
Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.
Genre and premise
Battlefield 2042FPS gameBattlefield: Bad Company 2Fighting FPS gameWhat each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.
How it plays
Battlefield 2042FPS, Shooter, MilitaryBattlefield: Bad Company 2FPS, Action, ShooterThe tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.
Reception
Battlefield 2042Score 5.0 · 47% on SteamBattlefield: Bad Company 2 ✓Score 7.8 · 85% on Steam · 87 criticThe GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
Content and scale
Battlefield 2042325,628 reviews · 2 add-ons · 100 GBBattlefield: Bad Company 237,378 reviewsReach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.
Price
Battlefield 2042$59.99Battlefield: Bad Company 2Not listedRead live from Steam and subject to change.
On a Steam Deck
Battlefield 2042UnsupportedBattlefield: Bad Company 2 ✓PlayableValve's own Deck compatibility rating.
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 takes 2 of the marked rounds to 0. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.
The two on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueBattlefield 2042 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.
2 games have both
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- Multi-platform
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
Which to pick, by what you want
- The higher-rated of the two: Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (GamingPickz Score 7.8)
- Better on a Steam Deck: Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (playable)
- The safer bet by weight of reviews: Battlefield 2042 (325,628 reviews)
What they have in common
Both are tagged by Steam players with:
FPSMultiplayerShooterMilitaryWarSingleplayerActionFirst-Person
Where they differ
PvPFuturisticModernPhysicsCinematicHero Shooter
Co-opTacticalAtmosphericOpen WorldClassicComedy
Tags players apply to one game and not the other.
Difficulty and who each is for
By the tags players apply, Battlefield 2042 is relaxed, easy to pick up. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.
System requirements, side by side
| Battlefield 2042 | Battlefield: Bad Company 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum GPU | AMD Radeon RX 560 | 256 MB Video Card (GeForce 7800 GT / ATI X1900) |
| Minimum CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 1600, Core i5 6600K | Core 2 Duo @ 2.0GHz |
| Minimum RAM | 8 GB | 2 GB |
| Install size | 100 GB | — |
Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Battlefield 2042 · Battlefield: Bad Company 2.
Accessibility features
Steam store pages declare 5 accessibility features for Battlefield 2042 and 0 for Battlefield: Bad Company 2. A declaration is a floor, not a review.
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Common questions
How different are Battlefield 2042 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 in scope?
Battlefield 2042 has drawn 325,628 Steam reviews, ships 2 add-ons and installs in 100 GB. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 has drawn 37,378 Steam reviews.
Is Battlefield 2042 or Battlefield: Bad Company 2 better?
By the GamingPickz Score, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 rates higher (7.8 to 5.0). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.
Which is cheaper, Battlefield 2042 or Battlefield: Bad Company 2?
One or both do not have a current listed price, so a straight comparison is not possible. See the table above.
Do you rank one above the other for a fee?
No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.
Related comparisons
How we compare, and what we will not do
The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.