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 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. 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!
— Pilestedt (@Pilestedt) May 14, 2024
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,…
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.
