Helldivers 2 Is Selling at a Faster Rate Than Spider-Man 2 in the UK

Just gotta hope Sony (and other publishers) doesn't get the wrong idea from this (the takeaway should be "how you do a service game", not "people want a service game")

this is, still, unbelievable to me.

Nice to see FF7 ReBirth as the 5th best selling game in March although the majority of sales were on release in February. Also seems Dragons Dogma (3rd) was quite successful with digital sales included as physical sales would hint otherwise.

But yeah huge credit to HellDivers 2 being the best selling game in March although it released beginning of February and there has been some big AAA releases since as well. Hopefully they are using the funds to ramp up development of new content.

Might "only" be £35 but its a far better game than the cookie cutter glossy shallowness of Spiderman 2

Oh yeah. I was at the battle of the Creek. And helped wipe out the Automaton threat. Still going strong with my buddies.

Pretty impressive when you also consider spiderman 2 had the holidays season boost

At risk of getting obliterated, Helldivers 2 is also a much much better game in terms of time investment. Spiderman 2 is probably the most barren and empty world PlayStation consoles have seen in a while. Outside of the npc and vehicle density, there’s very little of meaning to do and the campaign is so short it’s frustrating to do side content knowing how after twenty or thirty minutes of slinging around you’ve run out of stuff to do.

HD2 is such a great game with an addictive gameplay loop. Well deserved success.

My hope is that Sony realizes that the reduced price tag contributed to the sales numbers and this isn't a "missed opportunity" to charge $60 or $70.

MTXs are also some of the most reasonably priced I've seen in modern games, too.

@Ernimus_Prime Thank you for your service.

£30 has alot to do with it

people buy cheaper games

I just got Helldivers this past weekend. Strange time to join up when we "eradicated" the automatons and 90% of the map is liberated. Hoping something crazy happens this week.

I enjoyed SM2. Different kind of game to HD2, which I love just as much.

Not sure why someone felt to raise 'ugly white folk' as an issue. They all just looked like, well, normal folks to me 🤷‍♂️

@trev666 Especially on PC where from what I read most people buy games during steam sales. selling this at 30-40 bucks is basically that. Enough for PS Gamers not to fell bad about paying for Plus and enough for PC gamers to actually buy the game.

I echo the opinion that Helldivers II is a vastly superior game to Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. Considering how odd and brimming with personality it is, I'd say it's the most anti-PlayStation game they've released this gen since Returnal. It feels like a breath of fresh air.

There’s a lot of Spider-Man 2 hate (though that may be a slightly excessive word) out there. Personally, I absolutely loved the game. Yes, it was an iterative sequel, but it was also fantastic fun grabbing the platinum.

As for Helldivers 2, I’m not really a multiplayer kind of gamer, but maybe I’ll give it a try one of these days? My biggest problem is as a 50yr old, I just don’t have the friends to game with online. Sounds like I’m missing out though.

My comment wasn't all that political, but here's the edited lol:

@PaperAlien
As someone who has criticized the new SM games for their lack of physics, feeling too light and characters being stupid beyond belief...
I gotta say, I'm impressed with SM2.
ONLY when swinging assist is turned off though.

Other than that it's very forced political, very dumb at times and the main characters are now ugly as hell, because...?

Anyway, I only care for the traversal and I'm impressed. Needs more weight, but it's a technical feat that's for sure. Very good stuff. Doesn't deserve to be bashed all that much

There's a lot of hate towards Spider man 2, especially considering it's a 90 on metacritic with a general user score of 8.9 from 7.5k players. Seems the hate is unfounded and the majority actually enjoyed what the game has to offer.

@The_Pixel_King I highly recommend Helldivers 2 regardless of your fears around MP. I have had two or three instances of being kicked from a public game since it launched, and if you put yourself out there on comms you will find like-minded people to add to your HD2 friends list (in-game and separate to your PSN friends list, so they'll only see if you're in the game). I've met some cool people and squads to join up with on evenings when my IRL buddies are too busy to play HD2. The community is great, probably because it's co-op only.

Spider-man 2 is brilliant, Helldivers 2 is brilliant. I’m glad that there’s a company out there making both these types of games, and to the highest level of quality and polish.

I fully expected HD2 to quickly track ahead of SM2. Helldivers 2 is the mega hit of the year, some people just haven’t fully realised it yet. 20m sales coming in 2024.

@The_Pixel_King I was gonna say - I didn't expect so many comments saying SM2 was bad. Loved it myself.
As for Helldivers - the game is still very fun when playing through matchmaking (which can be a bit wonky at times tbf) but I have to admit playing with your squad in voice chat is a superior experience.

@UltimateOtaku91 its how things usually go. Most years the Pullitzers, Academy Awards and BAFTAs go to books or movies very few have seen and winning the awards does not cause more people to want to see them. Critics review media for its artistic merit and value. Most consumers want more fun. This is why games like Fortnite, Apex, Madden, FIFA, or CoD carry a sizable amount of the active player time on all consoles, despite seldom winning awards these days.

Comparing both these game sales is fine but comparing both these games quality when both games are completely different is not fine. Absolutely nothing wrong with Spider-man 2. Insomniac have done top tier work in creating their version of open world Spider-man games, so much fun swinging flying around on it for me. HD2 ain't for me but nice to see it doing really well regardless

@The_Pixel_King "My biggest problem is as a 50yr old, I just don’t have the friends to game with"

There are plenty of people on here that would be more than happy to play Helldivers with you, myself included. Its even a fun game to play with randoms too and thats coming from someone that dislikes multiplayer games in general.

Way too much hate going on here. To say Helldivers is vastly superior is sensationalist. Feels like it's personal.

@JohntheRaptor People just love to bash things, especially something popular, like SM2. I haven't played SM2 myself, but I can't fathom it being anything less than great. Also, don't really understand why normal-looking people in video games is considered a bad thing? Just cuz MJ doesn't look like a supermodel doesn't make her unattractive. And even if she was, who cares? Peter Parker is in a relationship with her, not us.

Spider-Man 2 feels rushed and soulless. The first one was a masterpiece, the sequel was a 7/10 game.

SM2 like the previous titles will have legs and it's only on one platform + it's 70. But it's impressive regardless from Helldivers 2, it's telling enough my sister asked me if I played it since she saw it on TikTok (she dgaf about gaming in general)

And it's quite funny for the people that said Jim Ryan's live-service expansion would fail and the first one out the gate is a massive success. He must be somewhere drinking his wine laughing.

@Kidfunkadelic83 @Voltan @StrickenBiged Thank you so much for the kind words and advice my friends. It really means a lot to me. You know what, it’s only £35, so I’ll pick up Helldivers 2 in the next few weeks and give it a go. I’ll also reach out to see if you’re up for a round or two while helping out a noob! Sounds like it’d be super fun.

If you want to add me on PSN, please don’t hesitate. You can find me with the username Aces73High, but please don’t feel like you have to! Thanks again guys. Like I said, it means a lot ♥️

@The_Pixel_King I have played Helldivers 2 mostly with randoms. It works just fine. Sometimes I end up with a really solid crew and that is just awesome.

@UltimateOtaku91 I don't think it's hate, it's just recognising that it's all a bit samey for 2023/24

It is always going to be a slight issue with a game with a world designed to zoom through, there isn't ever going to be much of note worth stopping around for. Swing here, do a thing, swing there.

In a way it's a type of game that would suit being just a full on cinematic game and have them up the hours of cinematic set piece content vs the generic combat encounters and travelling, collecting etc.

I, for one, hope Wolverine is absolutely nothing like it, for example, other than for some big spectacular cinematic stuff. That game needs to be of a smaller scale, moody and incredibly brutal and really dialed in on the emotive storytelling.

And maybe Spider-Man man with Venom could have done with a bit more of that too?

It's half the price and mostly selling on PC. Why would this be surprising? I'm sure Spiderman 2 would sell great for $30 on a bigger platform.

@Ravix @DeathlySW ouch. I've no interest in sm2, but what you described is everything I hate about 1 cranked to 11. I didn't get the hype of that series. Never seemed great to me. The world in 1 made Ubisoft games seem content dense, the stealth was tedious and the combat was just Arkham. Figured 2 would be better. 300m for that?

@The_Pixel_King I'm 51 bud and I'm enjoying my 4th childhood in helldivers 2...add me and join me and a few others spreading democracy. N_munkey72

Personally I don't understand the negative vibes towards spiderman 2. Its a class game and I can't even begin to compare it to helldivers 2. I don't own sm2 and I don't intend to purchase it either but that dosnt mean I can't see its a great game. I've enjoyed so many games that get so much negativity for some reason or another and I decided to just buy them regardless and I'm glad I did. Gotham knights,outriders,godfall,ac valhalla heck even god of war ragnarok got some serious flack because "It's just a ps4 game.." I sometimes wonder why do some people even play their ps5's when all they do is complain.

@NEStalgia it’s basically a PlayStation linear narrative game stretched out to the point it’s been drawn and quartered. Ragnarok did this exceptionally well because every inch had meaning and purpose. Spiderman 2 is just vacant. The first one was good but outstayed its welcome, second was better story wise but its world felt bland and uninteresting. It sold very well but for all intents and purposes is a flop. Interest has petered out and stores don’t want copies on their shelves. Smaller scale would have done it a lot of good.

@DeathlySW "Interest has petered out "

I see what you did there...

Yeah, I never really understood all the raving even over the first game. I mean I bought the hype the first time, even though I don't care about Marvel or Spiderman in the slightest because I had absolute faith in Insomniac, bough the deluxe preorder, even got the nice collectors pin in the mail to prove it. But the game...I never even finished the first one, it was sooooooooo bland. Bought Miles, too because it was at least something new for PS5 at PS5 launch. And I did finish it....but it was still soooo bland, but the smaller scale hid the blandness. 2 doesn't sound any better.

I love, love, love everything Insomniac has ever done, so to me it's a huge disappointment, I feel it's Insomniac's worst games to date. Technologically impressive, but very mediocre games.

Helldivers 2 shows how a game can be that dam good and know it's dam good by selling at a decent price and showing AAA publishers how it's done. Sure it's had its issues but ArrowHead communicate with it's players and let people know what's happening and fixes and they do.

I've not had this much fun from an online game since Bad Company 2 on PS3

As for Spiderman I finished the first one and I've Miles on PC for a while and not even started it. My girlfriend got me a PS5 for Christmas with Miles and Spiderman 2 and I've still not even played them. First game was boring in some places

Hd2 is like watching a TV series,it gets you hooked,what's going to happening next..a fantastic game..the loop is addictive

It’s a better game anyways 🤷🏼‍♂️

@CrackmanNL "But it's impressive regardless from Helldivers 2, it's telling enough my sister asked me if I played it since she saw it on TikTok (she dgaf about gaming in general)"

This is the true sign of when a game does well. My sister has also asked me about it. XD

@CrackmanNL Again Jim Ryan is a lot smarter than people want to give him credit for. He saw the issues with profitability coming and looked into recurrent revenue streams and based on how many of those games have been cancelled in development it is obvious he and his team saw the strength of HD2.
These cancellations mean his team still cares about the overall quality of output with the PS Brand. His only mistake which may yet work out in his favor is Bungie (the new update has been well received and people seem to again be enjoying the game).
He was also ridiculed for calling GamePass unprofitable and disliked by many studios despite being proven right two years later.

@Northern_munkey you never played sm2 & wonder why you don’t understand the criticisms for it?

ok then

@nomither6 my nephew plays it and I watch him playing it. Most of my friends have it. Don't presume I don't know what it's like just because I don't own it. I like you and I like your posts so let's not start trying to be funny OK.

Good, great gameplay always trumps story and graphics in games

@UltimateOtaku91 couldn't agree more. But people love hate bandwagons. They simply can't help themselves.

Seems a bit weird to me these two games are being compared! It’s a bit like saying Wimbledon is much better than the World Cup- they might both be sports but come on, they’re totally different.

It's a Christmas miracle or....
As you say above "Of course, it's important to note Marvel's Spider-Man 2 was sold for £70 while Helldivers 2 can be bought for half the price."

@The_Pixel_King I think your PSN might be set to hidden, as I can't find the username you provided (I can find one ending "737", if you've made a typo?).

My PSN is the same as my username here and I think I'm searcheable, so feel free to add me in anticipation of some HD2 action when you pick it up. I quite like occasionally dropping into new players' games and helping them learn the ropes so I'd be more than happy to help you out too!