I can see this, the Battlefield name was built on the PC.

Well, DICE. Now you look really stupid for not bringing Bad Company 1 to the PC.
 
Anyways, the fact that PC gamers were pissed of at Activision and looking for revenge, plus EA's clever marketing and swaying of gamers opinions made this game sell. Someone needs to do a case study of this.
 
On the other hand:
 http://store.steampowered.com/stats/
 
How the hell does MW2 on PC have almost 100 000 players online? You guys fail at boycotting. How does it beat both Counterstrike and Team Fortress 2?

Battlefield's about as classic of a PC shooter as Counterstrike, this comes as no surprise. 

" Well, DICE. Now you look really stupid for not bringing Bad Company 1 to the PC.  Anyways, the fact that PC gamers were pissed of at Activision and looking for revenge, plus EA's clever marketing and swaying of gamers opinions made this game sell. Someone needs to do a case study of this.   On the other hand: http://store.steampowered.com/stats/  How the hell does MW2 on PC have almost 100 000 players online? You guys fail at boycotting. How does it beat both Counterstrike and Team Fortress 2? "

How the hell is the original Counterstrike the third most played game on Steam??

It's understandable. Battlefield is a PC classic, and has a large fanbase of PC gamers. Plus you've got the people who want to make a statement to Activision & Infinity ward about how to make a multiplayer FPS on PC. Although I doubt that's a huge number of people. It'll mostly be just battlefield fans.

" How the hell is the original Counterstrike the third most played game on Steam?? "

Probably because console gamers have more games to play. Modern PC gamers just have to take what they're given.

According to this its not both consoles combined, just compared to either one individually
 
http://www.vg247.com/2010/03/06/bfbc2-servers-back-up-more-pc-players-than-each-console/ 

" Probably because console gamers have more games to play. Modern PC gamers just have to take what they're given. "

Good news, glad to hear BFBC2 is doing well on the PC! :)

In related news, only 1/3 of those players actually bought the game.

Proves that when a PC game looks and plays like a classic PC game, with an interface that actually takes advantage of the PC's capabilities, it sells well. I WONDER WHAT THAT MEANS.

" Kotaku link  Considering the long ass list of full 32 player servers you have to scroll down through to find the servers with open slots, this is very believable.  PC gaming is so totally dead. "

" @Andorski said:

" How the hell is the original Counterstrike the third most played game on Steam?? "

Retro is trendy I guess. I see some people still playing freaking Deus Ex and Half-Life. Or perhaps also because you require little but dirt to run the original CS. "

" In related news, only 1/3 of those players actually bought the game. "

glad to hear it. pc gamers have really wanted a good battlefield game for a while.

Obviously, Battlefield was made for the PC. 
And besides, For some reason most console gamers are STILL playing that piece of shit modern warfare 2 over anything else.

" @Buccura said:

" Kotaku link  Considering the long ass list of full 32 player servers you have to scroll down through to find the servers with open slots, this is very believable.  PC gaming is so totally dead. "

Congratulations PC gaming, you've had one popular game released on your platform in 2010! Time to celebrate!  Oh, wait, most of those players didn't actually buy the game.....nevermind. "

I was not going to chime in on this topic, seeming as I am for the most part a console first gamer. However,My fellow console gamers are acting immature and somehow getting offended by a game on PC doing well. I for one I`m glad, if the PC market steps it up then the consoles will have to step it up one more time like they had to in the past. Oh ya before I forget the dumb ass people who are  talking about piracy. I highly doubt these numbers figure into unofficial cracked servers.

Battlefield = PC  
Not surprising 

I think at least one of us should at least mention HOW FUCKING AWESOME THAT GAME IS!
 
seriously guize, serious

When I heard the news, honestly I was really suprised.

the original counter strike is still the third most played because it is better than  75% of the other fps

Hang your nostalgia at the door.  Counterstrike is not a great game by today's standards.

Seeing as this is the first half-decent BF game to come out on the PC since 2004/5, I can see why.

Awesome game with a huge PC pedigree that wasn't gimped for consoles does well on PC.  News at 11.

" How the hell is the original Counterstrike the third most played game on Steam?? "

name one other good COMPETITIVE fps released recently 

and i prefer css but i guess u could call that nostalgia too...

" @Buccura said:

" @Andorski said:

" How the hell is the original Counterstrike the third most played game on Steam?? "

Retro is trendy I guess. I see some people still playing freaking Deus Ex and Half-Life. Or perhaps also because you require little but dirt to run the original CS. "

Or maybe it's because those games are you know, great. "

" name one other good COMPETITIVE fps released recently and i prefer css but i guess u could call that nostalgia too... "

  http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107882
 
Kotaku borked this one.  Numbers is hard.  There are more PC players than either 360 players OR PS3 players, but 360 and PS3 combined beat PC.

^ tf2 is valid answer but is quite different from cs so that one might like one but not the other 
 
my point is that the competitive fps is now a very small genre 

Its fun on PC but the UI and multiplayer is janky as hell. Its crashed multiple times in the few hours i've owned it.

This is a bit surprising for me. Dragon Age was a game that was made with PC gaming in mind, but the 360 port was the leading SKU in terms of sales. 
 
It is nice to see PC gaming get a good shot in the arm. Maybe people who don't play on PC can stop calling it a dead gaming platform now?

" @Andorski said:

" How the hell is the original Counterstrike the third most played game on Steam?? "

Retro is trendy I guess. I see some people still playing freaking Deus Ex and Half-Life. Or perhaps also because you require little but dirt to run the original CS. "

" Proves that when a PC game looks and plays like a classic PC game, with an interface that actually takes advantage of the PC's capabilities, it sells well. I WONDER WHAT THAT MEANS. "

" @sixghost said:

" In related news, only 1/3 of those players actually bought the game. "

You can't play online without logging into an EA account. You can only get an EA account by buying the game.  Check your preconceptions at the door. "

" @Buccura said:

" Kotaku link  Considering the long ass list of full 32 player servers you have to scroll down through to find the servers with open slots, this is very believable.  PC gaming is so totally dead. "

Congratulations PC gaming, you've had one popular game released on your platform in 2010! Time to celebrate!  Oh, wait, most of those players didn't actually buy the game.....nevermind. "

" Probably because console gamers have more games to play. Modern PC gamers just have to take what they're given. "

Yup, and I'm loving it. Just unlocked the last upgrade for my sniper class. I'm disappointed with it so far, i cant seem to hit a dam thing with it for some reason. It's really pissing me off since it's supposed to be the most powerful gun, and a one shoot one kill gun too. Guess i will go back to medic. I hate the medics guns, but i love running around defibbing people and throwing down med packs when i see people hunkered down in spots.

This kind of shocks me.  
 
I'm glad, but still, crazy. I mean, CoD was started on the PC and you don't see it getting less sells on the consoles.  
 
Wonder how many are legit copies.

• No penetration into the console market that was worth a damn, and since the consoles were leading the charge, they needed some focus on that
• PC piracy rates are skyrocketed, so they wanted to work out all their backend stuff to prevent as much of it as possible
• Bad Company was a very different kind of experience than the core Battlefield franchise, and PC fans wouldn't have bothered with the game
• Frostbite tech pushes hardware pretty hard, and hardware at the time for PCs was still having trouble with Crysis...so they probably wanted to wait until specs were up enough to get a decent minimum spec setting for larger PC sales

• A strong single player narrative (which is something that IW has always done well...even if it has gotten a bit ridiculous)
• "Cool" lingo like "Oscar Mike", "stay frosty", etc
• Massive hype around a game that penetrated the console market in unexpectedly high numbers
• Promoting the idea of showing that you smoke weed (because let's face it, a lot of MW players are tokers)

" I can see this, the Battlefield name was built on the PC. "

maybe now they'll finally put out a proper non-consolized battlefield 3

" In related news, only 1/3 of those players actually bought the game. "

" @Buccura said:

" Kotaku link  Considering the long ass list of full 32 player servers you have to scroll down through to find the servers with open slots, this is very believable.  PC gaming is so totally dead. "

Congratulations PC gaming, you've had one popular game released on your platform in 2010! Time to celebrate!  Oh, wait, most of those players didn't actually buy the game.....nevermind. "

" Ha HA. Don't be mad console gamers. just because we get a version that looks, runs, and plays superior 90% of the time. "

"I for one I`m glad, if the PC market steps it up then the consoles will have to step it up one more time like they had to in the past. "

Man, I had been craving a new Battlefield game ever since 2006. So naturally I pre-ordered and have been playing since day 1 on the PC.