Helldivers 2 quickly overtakes Destiny 2 and Starfield to become the biggest Steam launch from PlayStation or Xbox Studios

Waves of players are attempting to spread democracy and bash robots in co-op shooter Helldivers 2, catapulting the game to record-breaking success, as the sequel has now passed the concurrent PC player peaks of the biggest PlayStation or Xbox-owned releases.

Helldivers 2 previously became the biggest PlayStation Studios launch on Steam, beating God of War’s concurrent player peak of 73,000 in just a single day. The shooter has now passed its own player peaks almost every single day since release and enjoys an all-time peak of 388, 754 players, according to estimates from Steam Database.

These updated numbers put Helldivers 2 out in front of smash hits such as GTA 5 and Monster Hunter World. The unexpected overperformance also probably validates PlayStation’s newfound focus on courting PC players – and hopefully will lead to even more simultaneous PC and PS5 launches.

Helldivers 2 has also reached the biggest PC player peak for a PlayStation-owned game, passing Destiny 2 – which technically falls outside of the PlayStation Studios umbrella – now sitting in second place with 316,000 players. Xbox’s biggest launch on the platform – Starfield’s impressive 330,000 number – has also been trumped.

Developer Arrowhead is “struggling to keep up” with such overwhelming demand, however, and recently had to limit the player cap to 450,000 to deal with a surge of aspiring Helldivers. Following in Palworld’s large footsteps, the studio is starting a massive hiring spree to respond to the game’s unexpected mega-success.

Have you gotten through the queue? Find out everything there is to know about all factions in Helldivers 2.