Helldivers 2 sold over 12 million copies in its first 12 weeks on sale, making it PlayStation’s fastest-selling game of all time, Sony has announced.
Speaking during an investor call, Sony said Arrowhead’s PlayStation 5 and PC live-service shooter “far exceeded” its expectations, hitting the impressive sales milestone on May 5, 2024. Helldivers 2 beats out Sony Santa Monica’s God of War Ragnarok, which hit 11 million copies 75 days after launching across PlayStation 4 and PS5 in November 2022.
Helldivers 2 launched on PC and PS5 at the same time with cross-play fueling its co-op PVE action. Sony said Helldivers 2 is the company’s biggest PC hit title to date, and as a multiplatform title, it also contributed “significantly” to sales and profit last quarter.
You play a Helldiver who fights against alien robots and bugs across a number of players as part of a Galactic War, with Arrowhead pulling the strings alongside the regular release of Premium Warbonds that add new weapons and gear to the mix.
Helldivers 2, which launched priced $39.99, saw an explosion in popularity that initially caused significant server problems. As Arrowhead worked to fix these launch issues, player numbers continued to grow, with Helldivers 2 becoming one of the most-played games on Steam with a peak of 458,709 concurrents. Sony does not divulge PS5 concurrent player numbers.
Since then, Arrowhead has butted heads with Sony over the Helldivers 2 IP owner and publisher’s decision to force PC players to link their accounts to PlayStation Network in order to continue playing. Sony eventually backed down, although not before a Steam review bombing campaign that looks set to become the inspiration for a new in-game cape.
Helldivers 2’s breakout success will no-doubt encourage Sony to release more of its multiplayer-focused video games on PC and PS5 at the same time. Currently, it continues to release its single-player games on PS5 first, before eventually making their way to PC. It may also encourage Sony to consider releasing more games at a budget price, given Helldivers 2’s success at $39.99. Concord — a new PVP multiplayer FPS from Firewalk Studios coming to PS5 and PC in 2024 — may follow suit.
Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt reacted to the news in a post on X / Twitter, saying: “it’s crazy to think that there are more Helldivers than there are Swedes.”
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,…
— Pilestedt (@Pilestedt) May 14, 2024
Arrowhead is expected to be planning to add more content to Helldivers 2 over the course of 2024, with vehicles and a third enemy faction expected to arrive at some point.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
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