Summary
- Helldivers 2 has sold over 12 million copies, breaking records and becoming Sony's fastest-selling release.
- The game surpassed expectations, with 458,000 concurrent players on Steam alone during its first month.
- Sony's success with Helldivers 2 may pave the way for more day-one PC releases and high expectations for future live-service titles.
PlayStation has officially revealed that Helldivers 2 has surpassed 12 million copies sold across PS5 and PC. The sales figures for the smash hit co-op shooter were announced at Sony's recent earnings call for financial year 2023 (ended March 31, 2024). It's no secret that Helldivers 2 has been incredibly successful, but as it turns out, it unexpectedly broke a big PlayStation sales record as well.
Developed by longstanding PlayStation partner Arrowhead Game Studios, Helldivers 2 launched in February to unprecedented success - far exceeding both Arrowhead and Sony's internal projections. During its first month, it hit a peak of over 458,000 concurrent players on Steam alone. Since Arrowhead didn't expect player numbers this large, the game's servers were heavily overwhelmed for the first three weeks, which was eventually rectified. In March, it was unofficially estimated that Helldivers 2 had sold over 8 million copies since launch, an extremely impressive achievement.
Sony has now announced official sales data for the game, which is even more impressive. In its first 12 weeks on the market, Helldivers 2 has sold an astounding 12 million copies across PC and PS5. Recent third-party NPD data already pegged Helldivers 2 as the best-selling game of 2024 in the United States, so there was no doubt the game has been a massive sales success. Surprisingly, Sony's data makes Helldivers 2 the fastest-selling PlayStation release ever. This record was previously held by 2022's God of War Ragnarok, which sold 5.1 million copies in one week and then 11 million copies in 10 weeks.
Helldivers 2 Is on Track to Be One of PlayStation's Highest Earning IPs
Considering God of War is a hallmark PlayStation IP that dates back to the PS2 days and has gained substantial critical acclaim in recent years, Helldivers 2's success as a far younger IP is absolutely tremendous. Moreover, it's also one of PlayStation's first live-service titles, so it will undoubtedly generate continuous revenue if it manages to maintain its player count. Sony somewhat put that at risk with Helldivers 2's recent PSN account linking fiasco, but quickly walked back the changes after community backlash.
The simultaneous PC release contributed heavily to Helldivers 2's success, as NPD data in March estimated that 60% of the game's sales were on PC. It remains to be seen if this will encourage PlayStation to pursue more day-one PC releases. During the company's last earnings call, CFO Hiroki Totoki mentioned plans to expand Sony's first-party PC releases in the future. It can also be assumed that Helldivers 2's success may have set a high benchmark for PlayStation's upcoming live-service titles, such as Firewalk Studio's Concord, which was reiterated to still be targeting a 2024 launch during the earnings call.
Helldivers 2
- Released
- February 8, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Arrowhead Game Studios, Nixxes
- Publisher(s)
- Sony Interactive Entertainment, PlayStation Publishing
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op
- Franchise
- Helldivers
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- Genre(s)
- Third-Person Shooter, Extraction Shooter, Action, Science Fiction
