Helldivers 2 just broke a record previously held by the mega-popular God of War, as this surprise PlayStation hit shatters records with PC players on Steam.
Nine years ago, a relatively unknown indie title dropped on the PlayStation store. The first Helldivers game latched onto a small but mighty group of players in large part due to its over-the-top, action-packed chaos, along with its penchant for laughter thanks to insane friendly fire.
Almost a decade removed, few would have expected a sequel to see the light of day, let alone with a considerably bigger budget and a jump to a third-person perspective. But that’s exactly the timeline we find ourselves in, and Helldivers 2 is already making history.
The surprise sequel just launched on February 8, and in a matter of hours, it’s quickly broken records. It now stands tall as the most concurrently played PlayStation game to release on Steam.
Helldivers 2 shatters God of War record on Steam
The 2018 God of War reboot made its way to PC in 2022. When it did, it became the biggest PlayStation port of its kind, hitting a peak of 73,529 concurrent players. Now, it sits below Helldivers 2.
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Launching simultaneously across both PS5 and PC, a first for Sony, Helldivers 2 has shattered the God of War record, and it only took a single day. Hours after servers went live, Helldivers 2 cleared 77,000 concurrents, and, at the time of writing, continues to climb.
Where the figure may settle is anyone’s guess for now, but Helldivers 2 has already cracked into the top 10 most-played games on Steam at this point in time, getting its name alongside juggernauts like CS2, Palworld, and Call of Duty, to name a few.
Update: Helldivers II has just passed God of War to become the #1 Highest Concurrent Players Peak ever for a PlayStation Published game on SteamCurrently 74k+ in-game and climbing https://t.co/nXvrYPHa5t pic.twitter.com/3xTdu9vvyp
— Benji-Sales (@BenjiSales) February 9, 2024
This new record could mark a change in strategy moving forward for Sony, as the concurrent PlayStation and PC launch has evidently paid off. Though being a multiplayer-focused release, there’s every chance more traditional singleplayer games remain console exclusive moving forward as usual.
We’ll be sure to keep you posted right here as Helldivers 2 continues its takeover of the PC gaming marketplace.