First Such Weekend in Helldivers 2 History. Servers Finally Withstood Players Onslaught
Helldivers 2 did not disappoint players over the weekend, but the developers once again expanded the game's servers that are barely able to keep up with the growing demand.
Game developers typically brag about the number of players their game attracts. However, Arrowhead Game Studios has another reason to be proud. For the first time, Helldivers 2 servers didn't bow to the wave of players wanting to join the fun. It happened last weekend.
Servers are finally (barely) keeping up with the players
Johan Pilestedt, the company's CEO, congratulated his employees on this achievement. Although the number of players on Steam doesn't drop below 400,000 users at the same time, over the last two days, players have had much fewer problems with joining the fun in the second Helldivers (at least judging by posts on social media).
Furthermore, the server capacity was supposed to be increased even more yesterday - up to 800,000 players. Let's keep in mind that this applies to both Steam and PlayStation 5, and some reports suggest that nearly 700,000 players were simultaneously playing Helldivers 2 over the weekend (via Reddit). So it looks like Friday's server capacity expansion wasn't even enough for two days.
Helldivers 2 was among several titles that were unprepared for crowds of people willing to play at launch. However, it's hard to blame the devs.
The first Helldivers never had more than 10,000 players playing at the same time. The developer anticipated that 250,000 server slots would be sufficient to accommodate all players on PC and PS5, with plenty of room to spare. Meanwhile, almost 65,000 people joined the game at its premiere, on Steam alone. This weekend saw a new record being broken: 458,000 players simultaneously.
Helldivers 2 sells very good
The players appear to have disregarded the developers, as the sales of Helldivers 2 might have surpassed 3 million copies. This number was provided by one of the users of the X service, and Pilestedt responded to this post in a simple but unequivocal way regarding the success of the game. Whether a positive reaction signifies an acknowledgment of the Internet user's esteem or rather an indication that many more copies of the game have gone to players is another matter.
It's also worth mentioning that the developers have found a potential solution to the error blocking access to purchased Super Credits on PlayStation 5. The team is already addressing the issue and will update players once the appropriate patch is released (via Discord).
Equipment customization in different colors might also be in the works (via Johan Pilestedt on X), although it's probably best to give the developers more time for this kind of feature. Since the release, the devs have been preoccupied not only with the servers, which can barely keep up with the increasing number of players. Suffice it to say that Helldivers 2 has received several updates over the last two weeks, and the developers are constantly in contact with both the entire game community and individual buyers.
