Helldivers 2's Concurrent Player Numbers Hit the Record Low

Helldivers 2, a viral sensation that took the world by storm in early February and quickly became adored by thousands for its engaging gameplay, friendly community, and compassionate developers listening to the playerbase's feedback, has recently hit a new anti-record with its concurrent player number on Steam falling to just over 10,000 users nearly half a year since its release.

According to SteamDB charts, at one point, the game had only 10,230 active players on Steam, the lowest number it has ever had and a far cry from the all-time peak of around 460K concurrent users. As of this moment, Helldivers 2 has close to 13,500 democracy fighters online, with the 24-hour peak standing at 26,412 players.

While the decline itself is evident from the charts, the exact reason behind it remains unknown, with the Internet's best minds pinpointing several possible explanations. The most likely cause is, as expected, the natural decline in the community's interest typical for the overwhelming majority of video games, aside from a few exceptions like GTA V or Counter-Strike 2.

A similar trend, for example, can be observed with another hit from early 2024, Palworld, which now has a concurrent player count of around 60-80 thousand users, a sharp drop from its peak of over two million:

Another group of people attributes Helldivers 2's "downfall" to the PSN linking situation of early May. Back then, the game's publisher PlayStation attempted to capitalize on HD2's success and increase its own numbers in a rather exploitative manner, announcing that all Steam players would be required to link their account to PlayStation Network.

Needless to say, the community of PC gamers didn't find that very democratic, instantly drowning both PlayStation and Arrowhead in negative reviews, which worked like a charm and urged the publisher to reverse its decision just a few days later. Despite that change of heart, the kerfuffle left a bad taste in the mouths of many players, making it indeed plausible that the PSN linking issue contributed, if not entirely caused, the decline in player numbers.

What do you think about Helldivers 2's player numbers? Do you think this drop is a natural part of the game's lifecycle, or is there a specific reason behind it? Leave your thoughts down in the comments!

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