A recent surge in the player count of PlanetSide 2 has led the game to break its own previously held Guinness World Record for most players in a single FPS battle. The online game, like many, has seen more activity as sweeping quarantine measures related to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic grip the planet. Deprived of more conventional ways to spend their time, many players have been flocking to video games.
According to Massively Overpowered, PlanetSide 2's player count climbed quite dramatically over the last two months, enjoying over 60% player gains for both February and March. In the last 30 days a peak player count of 7,694 has been recorded, the highest total since 2014. The game has also now beaten the Guinness World Record for most players involved in a single FPS battle, a record PlanetSide 2 itself set back in 2015. The original record was set by 1158 players, but was beaten this month by a stunning 1283 combatants.
While the coronavirus shelter in place orders have no doubt contributed to an increase in traffic for PlanetSide 2, the game also benefited from a rather large update earlier in the month. Daybreak Games calls the PlanetSide Escalation update one of the largest in the game's seven-year history, and it was released on March 11th despite delays pushing the PlanetSide 2 update back from its original window. The release of this hotly anticipated title, in conjunction with the severely increased amounts of free time players find themselves saddled with, have surely contributed to PlanetSide 2's unexpected comeback.
Source: Massively Overpowered