The latest co-op craze is Helldivers 2, and it has been achieving some impressive numbers on all platforms it is available on.
As reported by @TheRealJTV4K60 and shown on the PS Store, the PvE game has managed to overtake both Fortnite and Call of Duty to become the bestselling game on PSN in the USA as of February 18, which is nothing to scoff at. It has achieved similar feats on Steam where it’s enjoyed being the bestselling title, surpassing even the Steam Deck’s sales. The current success the game is enjoying can, in part, be attributed to the fact that for this weekend, extra XP is being served out.
If you want to join in on the fun, it’s going to be a little harder for a while, as Arrowhead has had to cap the number of concurrent players to fix server failure issues. According to the studio, for now, it’s limiting concurrent players to 450,000 but this is only temporary, and steps are being taken to raise that ceiling and have more players spreading democracy.
According to the CEO of Arrowhead, the game has blown through estimates and has already sold a million copies as of February 11. One can only imagine how much that number has grown as the game’s popularity has increased and how much that number will continue to increase as server issues are mended.
Currently, Helldivers 2 is a PvE game, and while some have asked for a PvP mode, the CEO has stated that this will never happen to reduce the chance of toxic elements entering the community. This is a move I agree with, as my PvE experience has been one of surprisingly good cooperation and etiquette, which I hope remains a constant.
Unfortunately, Xbox players have been left out in the cold, as Sony owns the Helldivers IP and has not released the game on Microsoft’s console. Speaking to Game File, Xbox’s Phil Spencer stated that he doesn’t get “who it helps in the industry” by making the game a console exclusive, though he bears no grudges as he admits it is something that Xbox also does.
My time with Helldivers 2 has been a blast and I’m sure to sink many more hours into it. Though online games aren’t really my thing, this is one title I’ll make an exception for.
