Game Analysi

Helldivers 2 loses 90% of its PC player base in just five months

Arrowhead’s fantastic alien-shooter Helldivers 2 is PlayStation’s fastest-selling game ever, but despite its initial success, Steam numbers continue to dwindle, plummeting to around 10 per cent of its all-time concurrent Steam peak of 458,709 players.

As Victoria reported at the end of May, SteamDB showed Helldivers 2’s peak at that time had dropped 64 percent to 166,305.

Today, that has dropped to 35 percent again, falling to a 30-day average of 41,860 concurrent players on Steam (thanks, Forbes).

Cover image for YouTube videoHelldivers 2 – PlayStation 5/PC – The Digital Foundry Tech Review
Helldivers 2 – PlayStation 5/PC – The Digital Foundry Tech Review.Watch on YouTube

Of course, that number only represents players on Steam, and – as it’s published by Sony – there’s plenty more Helldivers saving the world on PS5.

However, a litany of errors from Sony – starting with the infamous PSN debacle that kicked off earlier this year – not only resulted in swathes of negative reviews from a very disappointed community, but also saw the game pulled from sale in 177 countries where PSN was not available, forcing Sony to backtrack on its plans.

Last week, an unannounced Helldivers 2 stratagem leaked online, seemingly by a Sony email. The unforced error – which came via an official marketing email sent out to Helldivers – proudly introduces the Airburst Rocket Launcher players unlocked after they successfully liberated Penta during Operation Legitimate Undertaking.

The other problem was, the weapon in the image accompanying the email, however, wasn’t the Airburst… or, indeed, any weapon known in the game at that time.

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