Helldivers 2, the rising star of the gaming world, is the fastest-selling game in PlayStation history with 12 million units sold. This impressive achievement puts Sweden-based game studio Arrowhead on top.
As company CEO Johan Pilestedt jokingly put it, “There are now more Helldivers than Swedes!” According to Sony’s consolidated financial results for fiscal 2023, Helldivers 2 is the company’s “biggest PC hit to date”.
What’s more, the game’s sales surpassed the record-breaking God of War Ragnarok in 2022 to become PlayStation’s fastest-selling game of all time.
Helldivers 2’s record-breaking sales overshadowed by PSN controversy
The success of Helldivers 2 is even clearer when compared to the sales figures of the first game. In just three months, the game has broken a record by outselling its predecessor by many years.
Helldivers 2‘s meteoric rise has been driven in large part by the rapid spread of positive reviews among players and its popularity on social media. The intense interest in the game, which almost caused the servers to crash at launch, is another indicator of its success.
Compared to Arrowhead’s first game Magicka, which sold nearly 3 million copies on Steam in three years, Helldivers 2’s success makes even more sense. It shows that the studio is evolving and cementing its place in the gaming world. However, this success was overshadowed by some of Sony’s decisions.
The requirement of a PlayStation Network (PSN) account for the PC version of the game was met with great reaction among players. The game received more than 400,000 negative reviews on Steam in a short period, causing the reviews to turn “Mostly Negative”. This has gone down in history as a drama that overshadowed Sony’s success in the game. Sony dropped the PSN requirement for Helldivers 2 in response to the backlash. However, other games such as Ghost of Tsushima continue to require it. This means that players in approximately 180 countries where PSN accounts cannot be opened will not be able to access these games.
What Helldivers 2’s success means for the industry
Helldivers 2’s success is not limited to sales figures. For more than three months now, the game has been a hot topic in video game discussions. The impact of the game, especially in the PC Gamer offices, is an important indicator of how much Helldivers 2 has been embraced by gamers.
Arrowhead’s previous game Magicka sold 3 million copies on Steam in about three years. Helldivers 2’s success eclipses that of Magicka, painting a promising picture for the company’s future. However, the PSN controversy is likely to be remembered as a factor that overshadows the success of the game.
This great success of Helldivers 2 could be the beginning of a new era in the gaming world. The game’s momentum is likely to further encourage the studio in its future projects and accelerate the development of new games. The success of Helldivers 2 also shows how intense the competition in the gaming industry is and how the expectations of gamers are increasing day by day. This forces game developers to constantly reinvent themselves and produce better games.
Helldivers 2’s 12 million sales figure is a huge success for both the game studio Arrowhead and PlayStation. The game’s success seems to be a source of inspiration for future game projects. However, the PSN controversy is likely to be remembered as a factor that overshadows the success of the game.
Featured image credit: PlayStation
