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Helldivers 2 has become the unexpected smash hit of 2024. With the original game failing to peak at over 7,000 concurrent players, its sequel flew under the radar for a lot of people, myself included. But, the game became an instant hit, going on to peak with over 68 times more players on Steam alone. Despite coming under fire recently due to the PSN controversy, Helldivers 2 remains a popular game and the latest earnings call from Sony reveals just how much of an impact it has had.
The Arrowhead Game Studios CEO Johan Pilestedt has taken to X to announce that Helldivers 2 has sold over 12 million copies in the first 12 weeks of release saying,
“As announced in the Sony earnings call, we have sold over 12M units! It’s crazy to think that there are more Helldivers than there are Swedes. What a massive achievement from everyone involved in realizing @Helldivers2. A massive thank you to the community for your support, passion and dedication in the fight for democracy!”
This means the game is averaging around 1 million copies per week, with it being reported approximately 4 weeks ago that the game had surpassed 8 million copies sold. The latest sales figures were revealed during Sony’s earnings call, which also revealed that Helldivers 2 is Sony’s biggest launch, beating the previous record held by God of War Ragnarok which sold 11 million copies in 10 weeks.
Despite the current PSN controversy that Helldivers 2 has found itself embroiled in, the game is still selling well, although there was no information as to whether the restriction of the game in 180 countries caused a slowdown in sales at all. It was previously reported by Mat Piscatella that nearly 60% of Helldivers 2 sales were on Steam during its launch month, which has contributed to a large part of its success. During the earnings calls, Sony stated that Helldivers 2 “has become our biggest PC hit title to date, and as a multi-platform title, it also contributed significantly to sales and profit last quarter.”
With God of War Ragnarok just losing its record to Helldivers 2 by one million sales, it does beg the question as to how many copies the game would have sold had it simultaneously released on PC alongside PS5. Sony now plans on releasing its future live service games on PC on day 1, but it will be interesting to see if they take a similar approach to Microsoft and release their first-party games on PC at the same time.
With the likes of Square Enix now backing away from exclusivity sales following disappointing sales figures for Final Fantasy 16 and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, the success of Helldivers 2 on PC will surely be grabbing the attention of many studios and influencing their decisions to release on multiple platforms at the same time rather than tying their games down to a single system.
If you’re not one of the 12 million people who have already jumped into the game, or you need a refresher before serving your next cup of Liber-tea, we highly recommend checking out our Helldivers 2 best weapons guide and best armor guide so you can play your part in exterminating 2 billion Automatons to unlock the new Anti-Tank Mines Stratagem.
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