Helldivers 2 Was Built on a Discontinued Engine — ‘Our Crazy Engineers Had to Do Everything’

The success of Helldivers 2 continues unabated. Even yesterday, the third-person cooperative sci-fi shooter game nearly reached its historical peak of 450K concurrent online users on Steam. The user reception on Valve's store has meaningfully improved compared to launch, too, leaping from the original 67% 'Mixed' review rating to the current 81% 'Very Positive' review rating.

The first couple of weeks after Helldivers 2’s launch were a bit chaotic, to say the least, with developer Arrowhead Game Studios having to put a pause on its post-launch plans for the shooter to deal with the server overcrowding issues that arose due to the game’s unexpected widespread success. Now, however, those plans are beginning to kick into gear. The game recently added pilotable mechs, while its latest patch added new planetary hazards like fire tornadoes and meteor showers.

Earlier today, rumours started swirling that PlayStation was moments away from announcing its acquisition of Arrowhead Game Studios, the Swedish team behind the wildly successful Helldivers 2. While the two parties already have a strong relationship – Sony has published both of the Helldivers titles – founder Johan Pilestedt was quick to pour cold water on the reports.

The boss of Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has denied a recent rumour that Sony is buying the studio.

No, Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Game Studios isn't being purchased by PlayStation.

Helldivers 2 has turned out to be something of an anomaly, not only because it’s become a far bigger success than Sony or developer Arrowhead Game Studios had anticipated, but also because it’s selling at a rate that is unprecedented for the overwhelming majority of major new releases.

Although the playerbase of has developed a meta, pinning down the game's best weapons and Stratagems, a new update from developer Arrowhead Game Studios promises to shake up the game's existing options in a future patch. With the game's first few updates having been almost totally devoted to fixing bugs and server issues, 's gameplay has yet to see any significant updates, although additions like new Stratagems and weapons have been teased by the developers. With the game's server issues mostly fixed, however, Arrowhead seems to be gearing up for a more gameplay-focused update.

Some games take weeks to find an audience. Some take months. And then there's Helldivers 2, which has become an instant hit, surpassing more than 1 million copies sold in its first three days of launch. So, what's next?

It’s fair to say that not even in their wildest dreams, Sony or developer Arrowhead Game Studios could have anticipated that Helldivers 2 would have enjoyed the level of success that it has. In spite of server issues and persistent connectivity problems that have only just now started easing up, the co-op shooter has attracted a sizeable playerbase.

Arrowhead has teased “exciting” plans for Helldivers 2 after seemingly resolving the game’s server issues.

It took just over two weeks and some loss of sleep, but Helldivers 2, the smash hit co-op shooter from PlayStation and Sweden’s Arrowhead Game Studio, now actually works. Which is to say, the game cruised through peak play hours over its third weekend with minimal login issues, and with the majority of players able to get online and work together to save managed democracy, eliminating one bug (or robot) at a time.

Helldivers 2 continues to do well here in the UK, with boxed sales growing 20 percent in its third week on the market thanks to the game's positive reception.