Super Earth Is Saved As Helldivers 2 Update Triples Player Count

Super Earth’s warriors are back to cleanse the universe of space insects and robots as Helldivers 2‘s player count triples after its recent update.

After the game’s latest patch, player numbers have reached a post-release peak of 68k concurrent players— 44k as of writing.

The actual patch details can be found here as they’re too extensive to list out. Surprisingly, the most popular update didn’t add new maps, enemies, or guns, it simply buffed weapons and nerfed enemies.

Player comebacks like this one are rare, if not unheard of, for the most part. Generally, when a game loses steam after launch due to some meta-breaking update, the player count drops and stays around the new average, rarely increasing.

Only giants like Minecraft, Destiny, and Warcraft have managed to bring players back consistently.

Arrowhead, the game’s studio, might have just pulled off one of the greatest player rebounds in gaming history.

They finally realized why gamers loved Helldivers 2: it’s everyone’s power fantasy to slay endless hordes of aliens and declare humanity’s superiority.

A Love-Hate Dev-Player Relationship

The Helldivers 2 community has had a troublesome time with the game’s studio.

Back in May, publisher Sony tried to force players to create PSN accounts to play the game— likely done to artificially increase PlayStation numbers. This change netted the game 200k negative reviews and a player drop count.

The decision was backtracked alongside an apology, but it set the tone for this tumultuous player-dev relationship.

August marked the true turning point with the controversial “Escalation of Freedom Update.“ While there were some welcomed new locations and enemy types, that’s where the positives ended.

Nerfed weapons and the general erosion of the beloved sense of overpowering might every helldiver craved made players turn to old faithful, review bombing.

However, in a move reminiscent of game studios of old, Arrowhead took this criticism in stride and did better. In a Reddit post, the devs responded to players’ concerns and outlined a 60-day plan to fix everything.

Most importantly, and probably why so many players came back, they put the creation of a “beta-test environment” and “regular player surveys” as chief goals. This ensured that future changes would be player-focused and tested.

It’s truly a surprise that players return after what they asked for is implemented. Who knows, maybe the success of Helldivers 2 and the goodwill Arrowhead has cultivated will move other studios to be as transparent.

While this update is promising, and the fanbase’s feedback is overwhelmingly possible, it remains to be seen if Arrowhead will maintain its momentum into the future and keep the game afloat.