Helldivers 2 has become Sony’s biggest PC launch, with a record-breaking number of concurrent players on Steam.
Released yesterday (February 8), Helldivers 2 quickly achieved a peak of 81,840 players playing concurrently and has maintained its popularity, with over 60,000 players currently doing battle according to SteamDB.
That makes it Sony’s biggest launch on PC, a record previously held by God Of War, which saw 73,529 concurrent players in January 2022.
However the 10,000 steam reviews currently give Helldivers 2 a “mixed” rating thanks to a series of technical errors caused by that huge launch.
The team quickly uploaded a new patch designed to “improve matchmaking” alongside other crash fixes. “We know there’s more to solve, and we’re working our way through it. Nevertheless, we hope this rapid patch goes a long way to making your experience better,” wrote developers Arrowhead Game Studios.
“Helldivers 2 takes place a century after the events of the first game, with Super Earth having emerged victorious against its adversaries – the deadly, bug-like Terminids, the grotesque Cyborgs and the inscrutable Illuminates. With its foes vanquished and the Galactic War won, an era of peace and prosperity ensued. The Helldivers, Super Earth’s elite task force, were dismissed.”
“[However, when a ] mysterious new enemy enters the fray, Super Earth has no choice but to mobilize the Helldivers once again,” reads the game description. “The Galaxy’s Last Line of Offence. Enlist in the Helldivers and join the fight for freedom across a hostile galaxy in a fast, frantic, and ferocious third-person shooter.”
At the end of last year David Jaffe, the original creator of the God Of War franchise, criticised the direction that the newer games have gone in. “Ragnarok was a great game, wonderfully made and produced but it’s not God Of War.”
In other news, Jax Jones has released his new collaborative single ‘Never Be Lonely’ with The Pokémon Company alongside a Pikachu-starring music video.