Everyone already knows Helldivers 2 has been a smash success for publisher Sony, but there were never any hard sales figures for it. Now, Sony itself has confirmed the game has pushed over 12 million units across PlayStation 5 and PC, making it the fastest-selling PlayStation launch of all time.
Sony shared this during a webcast to discuss its financial results for the company’s fiscal year ending in March 2024 (via VGC). It described Helldivers 2‘s sales as “far exceeding expectations,” having sold 12 million units in its first 12 weeks. That means, on average, it was selling a million copies every week since its February 8 launch.
This is extra impressive when you remember Spider-Man 2, the big-budget PS5 exclusive starring one of the most popular superheroes in the world, only passed the 10 million sales mark this February, four months after its launch. Not only that, but the previous record holder for fastest-selling PlayStation game was God of War Ragnarök, which sold 11 million copies in 10 weeks.
While Helldivers 2‘s success was obvious even without exact figures (it was the UK’s best-selling game two months in a row), it’s nice to actually put a number to it. As for how it achieved such a record, there’s no doubt multiple contributing factors. For starters, Helldivers 2 launching on PS5 and PC the same day would have helped simply because it allowed more people to play it than if it had been PS5 only. Not to mention it quickly fostered a dedicated community of players and a strong social media presence, which combined would’ve helped to attract new players who otherwise may have missed out on it.
Furthermore, Helldivers 2 is simply much cheaper than the likes of Spider-Man 2 and God of War Ragnarök. Whereas those games were sold at $70 / £70, Helldivers 2 is a far more affordable $40 / £35. Plus, Helldivers 2 is enjoying continuous updates whilst Spider-Man 2 and God of War Ragnarök are one and done single-player adventures. $40 for a game that’s frequently adding new content is arguably far more enticing than a $70 game you can complete from start to finish in a month or two.
Sony will most likely want to keep supporting Helldivers 2 in the long-term, though it’s already demonstrated that it’s quite easy to kneecap the game’s popularity. The decision to force everyone to get a PlayStation account for the game, which would’ve resulted in it becoming unplayable in multiple countries, almost felt like the end-times for Helldivers 2 and would’ve culled its player base had Sony not pulled a U-turn. Going forward, Sony may be more careful with how it handles Helldivers 2. After all, it’s a golden goose for the company right now, and the last thing it will want to do is squander it.
