Battlefield 2042's low population has effectively turned one player into the host of an entire region

gamesradar.com:

One Battlefield 2042 player has become the de facto host of the entire South African region due to its low population.

That's according to a report from Reddit user Vandeiedakaf, a PC player who claims that the game's South African pool is so small, and connections to bigger servers are so thin, that local Portal options are "the only way to get a game" in the region. 

"There simply aren't enough players to fill multiple servers so the first person to host a server for the night pretty much has full control over the game for the rest of the players in the region," they say.

Players could always just host their own Portal, sure, but folks looking for a game will naturally latch onto the most populated existing servers, and this can make it difficult to set up and coordinate an alternative. Unfortunately, as Vandeiedakaf says, the host of the current largest South African portal has reportedly been kicking folks left and right. 

"I know there's not much anyone of us can do about this, but maybe, just maybe someone at DICE can see how ridiculous it is that I can't play a game that I paid for just because one other player wills it that way," Vandeiedakaf concludes.

This report has come on the heels of EA's quarterly earnings call, during which the publisher acknowledged that Battlefield 2042 didn't meet expectations. However, EA says it's committed to improving the game through future updates. 

It's been claimed that Battlefield 2042's poor launch could cause the entire series to shift to a free-to-play structure for future installments.