Developer Arrowhead has once again made headlines with a significant player cap expansion for their co-op shooter, Helldivers 2. Despite recently doubling the concurrent player capacity, the studio finds itself in the midst of maintaining an ever-growing player base.
Helldivers 2 kicked off with a bang this week, quickly outpacing some of the largest PlayStation Studio launches on Steam in terms of concurrent players. Responding to the surge in demand, Arrowhead initiated an emergency hiring spree in an attempt to keep pace, although the team admits to feeling completely drained by the relentless workload.
An Arrowhead employee addressed recent server-related issues in a message shared on the game’s Discord channel and subsequently across social media platforms. The spike in concurrent players resulted in glitches such as failed mission payouts, players getting unexpectedly kicked to their ships, or being logged out of the game entirely.
Despite the team’s tireless efforts, challenges persist in maintaining server stability amidst overwhelming demand. Concurrent player capacity has been increased to 450,000, up from the previous cap of 360,000, in a bid to enhance server performance.
However, this expansion may lead to queues for players until further capacity adjustments are made or demand naturally decreases—an outcome deemed unlikely given the game’s continued popularity. Nevertheless, Arrowhead is actively collaborating with partners to address this issue and raise the ceiling on player capacity.
Helldivers 2’s success can be attributed in part to its community-driven mission to spread democracy through cooperative gameplay and explosive encounters with robots. It comes as no surprise that CEO Johan Pilestedt has declared the game will never incorporate competitive player versus player elements, emphasizing its commitment to cooperative gameplay.
