Helldivers 2 has become Sony’s biggest ever game launch on Steam, despite a ‘mixed’ reception from players.
Arrowhead Game Studios’ cooperative action game is published by Sony Interactive Entertainment across PS5 and PC via Steam. While Sony does not publish player numbers for PlayStation games, Valve does for Steam games. Yesterday, February 8, Helldivers 2 launched big on Steam with a peak concurrent player count of 81,840. That puts it ahead of Sony Santa Monica’s God of War, which enjoyed a peak concurrent player count of 73,529 when it launched on PC two years ago, according to SteamDB.
.@helldivers2 is now the most concurrently played game on Steam published by @PlayStation at 81k players.
Previous record was God of War at 73k players. pic.twitter.com/Ki0cJtdi4n
— SteamDB (@SteamDB) February 9, 2024
Helldivers 2’s PC success comes despite it launching day-and-date alongside the PS5 version, which is an unusual but not unprecedented strategy for Sony. Sony published IllFonic’s Predator: Hunting Grounds, for example, across PS4 and PC on the same day in April 2020. Helldivers 2 is also the top-selling game by revenue on Steam, ahead of smash hits such as Palworld and Call of Duty. It’s worth noting Helldivers 2 is not a full-price game but cheaper at $39.99.
Whether Sony might be willing to relax its policy for its big first-party exclusives remains to be seen. The recently released Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is not available on PC and Sony has yet to announce a PC version. Shift Up’s eye-catching action game Stellar Blade is down for release on PS5 only, as is Team Ninja’s Rise of the Ronin. Concord, a brand new PvP multiplayer first-person shooter from Firewalk Studios, is due to launch on PS5 and PC.
Despite Helldivers 2’s Steam success, it has a ‘mixed’ user review rating, with some users pointing out performance problems that are causing issues on PC. Arrowhead has released a patch to Steam that appears to have eased matchmaking issues for PC as well as some crash issues.
“We know there’s more to solve, and we’re working our way through it,” Game Director Mikael Eriksson said. “Nevertheless, we hope this rapid patch goes a long way to making your experience better.
“Now go smash some bugs (and bots)!”
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.