Palworld and Helldivers 2 have been the biggest breakouts of 2024. What’s unique to both of these games is the fact that they are cross-platform but only with PC. Palworld is still not available on the PlayStation Store, and Helldrivers 2 isn’t available on the Microsoft Store. Despite both of these games not being completely cross-platform, they were able to break records on launch day.
Helldivers 2 Overtakes GTA V in concurrent players.
Arrowhead Game Studios managed to eclipse GTA’s concurrent player record on Steam. Before you read too much into that statement, role-playing servers are not accounted for in the record. Helldrivers 2 was able to get more than 320k+ users online at a time. This isn’t such a big number when compared to other games, but for a game that has just launched, it’s a pretty solid start.Apart from GTA, Helldivers 2 was also able to overtake Destiny 2 and Starfield with regards to concurrent players on Steam. While most games would take time to hit these numbers, Helldivers 2 has already managed to secure a huge user base within just weeks of launch.
The timing of this couldn’t be any better for PlayStation. With Palworld completely taking over Xbox and PC, PlayStation users were begging for a title that would reach similar success. Palworld developers have not confirmed a date for a PlayStation release, and the same can be said for Helldivers 2.
In an impressive feat, #Palworld is still ahead of Helldivers 2's all-time #Steam peak concurrent player count.
Fortunately, Palworld servers are just fine, unlike Helldiver 2 servers which are at capacity, with only half the player count of Palworld's. #Xbox
Both of these 3rd… https://t.co/g4SKE7x3bk pic.twitter.com/UKxj4PmqlZ
— K-Med (@K__Med) February 17, 2024
Server Issues Still Plague The Game
Ever since launch, the servers have been at full capacity. The developers even had to turn off online matchmaking on launch day to completely fix the server issues. Arrowhead Game Studios did not expect such a huge wave of users to download their game on launch day. As of now, the servers seem to be running at full capacity, and because of that, players are still facing many matchmaking issues.
Developers have acknowledged that they didn’t expect this many users to play the game. Server upgrades are incoming, and hopefully, we can see many improvements to the overall quality of the game soon. The developers clearly understand the magnitude of the situation and seem to be working on fixing the bugs and server issues plaguing the game. The games that feature better “concurrent online” numbers are mostly free-to-play games. “Helldivers,” on the other hand, costs around $40, and because of that, developers will be under more pressure to fix the game and get as many players online as possible.
I’ll be honest, this game caught me completely off guard, and I’m really looking forward to playing it in the coming weeks. I was initially planning to wait for the hype wave to die down, but the game just keeps getting bigger as weeks pass by. I might as well purchase the game and start playing it this early. I wonder if an early start to this game helps you unlock OG items. Most every game has season 1 unlockables, which later end up being rare collectibles.
If you’re with the PlayStation gang and Palworld is all you’ve heard for the past few months, now is your time. Helldivers 2 is slowly catching up and competing with “Palworld” in terms of an explosive launch.
