When it comes to live-service gaming, longevity is one of the key factors that plays a major role, and although Helldivers 2 has been trying its best to keep up with a landscape that’s constantly evolving, things aren’t looking too bright for the Arrowhead title.
At launch and for months, the Helldivers sequel was the center of conversation because of the developer’s wholesome approach to the multiplayer experience. However, due to various factors, Helldivers 2 is finding it hard to retain its player base, as the count keeps dropping and hasn’t reached the peaks it used to enjoy.
The Helldivers 2 Phenomenon Could Be Fading
Ever since Arrowhead released Helldivers 2, it’s been clear that the developer cares about its game and the player base that has stuck around with it.
That’s been evident with the constant updates that the studio’s been releasing in the form of Major Orders, Warbonds, new enemies, and more, but even with such commitment from the team, it’s becoming difficult to keep the attention of the huge number of players that the game was managing before.
To put the player drop into context, the Steam Charts show that while Helldivers 2 garnered an all-time peak of 458,208 players, it’s drastically reduced, as the title hasn’t even been bringing in 100,000 gamers lately.
The conversation made its way to forums like IconEra, where players discussed the reasons why Helldivers 2 seems to be nearing its expiration date. With a 24-hour peak of just 70,591 players currently, the Arrowhead title hasn’t been performing as well as it used to among the PC community.
“You can only do the same thing for so long before it feels stale,” stated a gamer who feels like there hasn’t been enough content variation in Helldivers 2 even with the patches that the developer keeps launching, and similar to other live-service titles, it could prove to be its downfall.
Controversy, Weapon Nerfs, and a Lack of Fresh Content
It wouldn’t be fair to pinpoint the Helldivers 2 issue to just one factor, as various reasons have appeared all at once and proven to be a hindrance to Arrowhead’s excellent momentum.
The reduced player count on Steam can be attributed to the recent PlayStation Network account-linking controversy, and although Sony backtracked on its decision, the damage it caused lingers. In fact, Helldivers 2 is still delisted on Steam in numerous regions, and with so many of the initial players affected, the decrease in player count was obviously going to follow.
Of course, the developer is not completely blameless either, especially because of how Arrowhead handled balancing that nerfed plenty of weapons in the game, making it far less enjoyable than it used to be.
“It’ll prop up again for sure next update,” wrote the aforementioned IconEra user, and considering that the upcoming major Helldivers 2 patch is just around the corner, maybe the studio can bring the seemingly lost glory back to Super Earth’s soldiers. But if the lack of fresh content keeps persisting, Helldivers 2 could end up getting lost in oblivion just like those that recently came before it.
Do you think Helldivers 2 can maintain its longevity, or will it gradually fade away? Let us know in the comments!
