
Starship Troopers-simulator Helldivers 2 continues to conquer new worlds, deep-striking past Destiny 2 in terms of concurrent player count and approaching Palworld in terms of popularity. Notable, from a PlayStation perspective, is another surprising feat developer Arrowhead achieved in terms of PC dominance: more concurrents than the peak player count of every single PlayStation PC port released on Steam so far.
The impressive feat was noted by VGC, who says Sony's magic number is 300,359 and that Helldivers eclipsed this effort on Saturday with 333,827. PlayStation Studio's list of first-part published games on Steam consists of Horizon Zero Dawn, Days Gone, God of War, Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Returnal, The Last of Us Part I, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.
Seemingly working through the weekend to ease the continuing server issues (caused by the massive influx of players attempting to log in at the same time), Arrowhead managed to smash even Saturday's effort on Sunday, with some 409,367 patriots responding to Super Earth's call for reinforcements, following a surprise, cowardly assault from Automaton forces.
If Sony wasn't convinced that day-and-date PC multiplayer game launches were worth the effort, Helldivers 2 provides a compelling counterargument. Notes for next time would, of course, be to allocate additional resources to ensure the launch goes smoother, but we have the benefit of hindsight.
Did you get a few games of Helldivers 2 in over the weekend? Are you surprised to see such success despite server limitations? Let us know in the comments section below.
[source videogameschronicle.com, via twitter.com]
Comments 33
I just hope that in the long run the devs dont get greedy and raise the price of their micros like Destiny thinking their skins are worth the price of a 20 to 30 dollar game.
Haven’t been able to try it just yet. I ended up buying it today, but I’ve not been able to try it due to server issues. Looking forward to trying it.
This shows Sony two very important things:
And I’d also say this also proves that Sony didn’t need Bungie to come up with an actually good live service game, let’s hope Sony learns all they can from from this, and congrats for Arrowhead for absolutely shattering expectations!
I had no problems Saturday getting into games but Saturday night was next to impossible. Sunday I could play solo but could not join or invite friends despite them being visibly online nor could they invite me either..last night was again impossible to get a game at all. Awesome game but I wish they would sort this out soon..
@IOI server issues and inability to play at times aside, I’m glad this game exists and is doing as well as it is. Pretty tired of big companies saying they “can’t make great games on small budgets and players don’t want games with no story, no open world, bla bla”. We want fun games. That’s it. If it has an open world or is made on a big budget and is fun, that’s awesome. These things aren’t mutually exclusive.
Games should be fun. That’s it. Start killing studios that refuse to make fun games and fund the ones that understand what games should be.
@DeathlySW word up
I’m loving it but faced server issues. I think if they added a single player option not tied to live service, at least then it would still be playable. Perhaps they will. I’m loving how you can kill each other in multiplayer too. I’ve played a few where there has been a rogue player on the team trying to take us all out 😂
Really happy the game is doing well for the devs sake. Hopefully they can iron out some of the server issues for everyone.
@IOI
One of the goals of the Bungie acquisition was for them to supervise the development of Sony's GaaS games.
@IOI online coop game yes, but single player games simultaneous release on PC will definitely hurt PS5 sales (Just like what is happening with Xbox)
I've wanted to give this a go but the server/connection issues are just a no go for me.
It's been reported to be extremely worse on the PS5 side. Happy for their success, just not likely to jump in so late in progressing when the issues and capacity take weeks if not months to work out. To have day one issues like quick play / matchmaking largely broken is just not great.
Insanity that they've had to cap concurrent players to get a handle on this.
However, it's a testament that even despite this, the game is apparently so fun to play that people keep coming back and more people are jumping in.it seems to just boil down to it being fun to play. Even with limited content.
@Jamesblob or how about they look at the state of their own profit margins. It's looking increasingly likely that we're coming towards the end of console exclusives being a successful business model
Well deserved. I am very much enjoying myself, and it seems lots of others are too. I hit the "servers at capacity" screen on both Saturday and Sunday nights, but in both cases I made it in within 5 minutes.
It’s much easier to get into the game on PS5, and you can even skip the queue completely using some functions(you probably shouldn’t though as server limits exist for a reason)
I guess day and date pc releases really do work. Well done on your sucess Arrowhead
Tip for anyone struggling to find a match. Get some friends (lol) and join their game it works every time. Haven’t been able to get the flag raising music out of my head for days now
Doesn't really prove anything regarding new games being released on pc as well, this is an online only mp game, completely different to the single player games which should stay exclusive for at least 18 months , I presume Sony are helping with the issues,I couldn't get a game at all over the weekend.
@Shushibda I don’t mind handing out my PSN if you wanna have a few matches with me later bro. I’m GMT-0. You always get in a game with people on your friends list 👍
@IOI Agreed with your two points. But i'll add a third
@Jamesblob you're conflating day and date with PC and putting games on a subscription service day one. I don't see the downside in Playstation games coming to PC at launch or much closer to it and it looks increasingly likely that this will happen
carlos82 wrote:
I still think there is a careful tightrope to tread for Sony. If ALL PlayStation games came to PC day 1 it would make PC an even better option for some, especially as almost every Xbox game is on PC, plus many more.
I also think a new Steam Machine "console", or something similar to it, might be just around the corner soon. This would probably be a Linux based system with a console like interface, just like Steam Deck, that neatly straddles the gap between consoles, which are convenient and cost efficient, and PC which is complex and expensive. It could also be a Windows based device maybe with a thin console like client, the under the TV equivalent of an Asus ROG Ally or similar.
Either way I think Sony have a fine line to tread to not devalue their own offering by putting games Day 1 on PC. It makes sense for SOME titles, like live services, but not all games.
@themightyant I don't see it happening anytime soon but it's pretty clear that some are at least getting closer to that and it is an avenue that Sony are exploring. Just how Xbox are testing the waters with putting their games on PS5, I feel these are the first baby steps to moving away from being a console only platform
@carlos82 Agreed. And I think this is the way the industry is slowly heading, which I am mostly thankful for as I don't like all the walled gardens and number of exclusives. Games should be available for as many players as possible. Despite that exclusives are also still important, for now anyway.
@Jamesblob Not sure where you are getting your data from that Xbox's "hardware sales decreased. Massively" due to Game Pass. Their console sales are roughly in line with Xbox One to the best of our knowledge, which launched in 2013 and Game Pass didn't launch till 2017. So their hardware has stayed the same, NOT decreased. If you have actual evidence to back up your claims i'd love to see it.
But Microsoft is in a different position to Sony, console sales are less important. They are happy if you are playing on Microsoft Xbox, or Microsoft Windows. In that timeframe their revenue from gaming has massively increased. I agree we don't want to push PlayStation players to PC, but lets talk in facts not idle made up speculation.
I don't usually play online multiplayer games but I'm very tempted with this one.
@carlos82
I think its far from it actually, at least for single-player titles.
It makes sense for them to release first on PS5 and then later on PC, you have an established consumer base that will most likely buy those games and data proves that most people are inclined to play SP games on consoles.
Hmmm, maybe this is what happens when you actually release day and date instead of 2 years later?
@CielloArc For the time being I'd expect that to be the case but just a few years ago it was unthinkable that a PlayStation game would launch on PC but today, Returnal, Spider-Man, The Last of Us, God of War, Ratchet and Clank, Days Gone, Sackboy, Horizon and Uncharted are all on PC and the upcoming remake of Until Dawn looks to be launching at the same time on PC.
Don't get me wrong, I don't expect their bigger games to launch day one on PC but that gap will shrink
@carlos82
Everybody's Gone to Rapture and first Helldivers game were also PS exclusives before being ported to PC so it's not like it's anything new.
I actually think Sony now are wondering why did we buy Bungie for that over inflated price based on fake predictions from Bungie. When this game proves you can do it if you stick to your guns and launch it together on PC at the same time. But I think it should have also been on Xbox because it deserves a massive player base it's that dam good even with randoms I've been having so much fun
@Mikey856 sure mate I only finish work at 10pm though so its like 11 by the time I sit down , I'm in the uk
@IOI "A simultaneous launch on PS5 and PC can definitely make a game more successful."
Careful now. Although it makes total sense to launch a multiplayer shooter day and date on PC, it's dangerous to extrapolate that "lesson" to single player games.
Launching all (or most) games day and date on PC makes your console substantially less attractive. This notion that there's almost no overlap between console and PC gamers is flawed. People change and adapt. If PC becomes the de-facto platform for all games from all (or most) publishers, people will flock.
I've been an avid PC gamer in the past, but these days I don't even consider installing a game on my PC. The console experience is the only way I want to play my stuff. So it worries me that in 10 or 15 years, this model could no longer make business sense.
That's just embarrassing for sonys big AAA games but at least it shows them they don't need to spend over 300 million on games!. Gameplay will always be king
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