Summary
When it was released back in February 2024, it seemed as though no matter where gamers looked, they would always see something to do withHelldivers 2. Thanks to its chaotically fun gameplay loop, four-player co-op, and military humor, the title spread like wildfire, earning a ludicrous 458,709 peak player count on Steam despite being a PlayStation Studios title. It seemed like everyone bought in to the military satire andStarship Troopers-like setting, diving into hordes of enemies with their friends, but months later, the player base has seen a significant fall off.
Usually, games see fall-offs when the developers make questionable choices that turn off a fan base or simply refuse to add meaningful content outside of cosmetics that can be sold for a quick buck.Helldivers 2hasn’t suffered from either. ThePSN account linking issuehad nothing to do with Arrowhead Studios and came directly from Sony, butHelldivers 2still has only a small fraction of its peak player base. Arrowhead seeks to address this, announcing the Escalation of Freedom update to its golden goose to try to put life back into the game.
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Escalation Of Freedom Might Not Be Enough To Revive Helldivers 2
But It’s A Step In The Right Direction
During its peak, many praisedHelldivers 2for its live service model. Typically, when players hear the phrase"live service,“it usually starts ringing alarm bells, since other games likeSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice League,Marvel’s Avengers,andAnthemall fell flat on their face in rather sad fashion.This was never an issue withHelldivers 2as Arrowhead kept adding a steady stream of free content, with theEscalation of Freedom updatepromising to add enough to elicit a trailer from the developer.
Escalation of Freedom promises new enemies, planets, environmental effects, and much morethat has yet to be shown. All of this will be added to the game on August 6 and the hope is that it will put some new life into the game. Since it will be free, which is always a nice touch, many will likely rejoin the ranks of the Helldivers yet again and be pummeled into the ground with the latest difficulty setting, but withHelldivers 2’s ridiculous peak, it probably won’t be enough to relive the glory days.
Helldivers 2reached its peak player count on Steam on June 29, 2025.
Helldivers 2likely saw a drop-off due to the gameplay loop just getting a bit stale. Although there was plenty to do, once players got allthe Strategemsand what they wanted out of the Warbonds, there wasn’t much of a reason to keep going. The gameplay is solid, but if players spend their time just shooting bugs and robots over and over, eventually, it will get a little tiring.The new enemies and added difficulty will help to alleviate this somewhat, but it may not keep players for that long afterward.
Helldivers 2 Needs To Expand On Escalation Of Freedom Going Forward
New, free content is always a good thing, but if Arrowhead wants to keep its cash cow feeling fresh, these big updates will need to come thick and fast, which is quite an taxing task. Having said that, there is a longer-term solution toHelldivers 2’s player number woes that its predecessor actually had to begin with.This would be adding in the Illuminate faction, a once aquatic, alien civilization that has allegedly been exterminated by the timeHelldivers 2has rolled around.
Includinga third enemy factionwould add a completely different dynamic toHelldivers 2to keep it fresher for longer,provided that the Illuminate aliens will differ more from the Terminids and Automatons. This might prove to be a problem since the Illuminate are somewhat similar to the Automatons when it comes to being a highly technologically advanced race that uses weaponry to shoot at their enemies. Still, there are enough aesthetic and lore differences to work with, and Arrowhead is creative enough to make the Illuminate feel unique.
Names of the factions have not remained consistent betweenHelldivers 1and2. The Automatons were called the Cyborgs in the first fame, and the Terminids were simply called Bugs.
Before committing to such a large edition that would completely change the dynamic ofHelldivers 2,the Escalation of Freedom update will be a good litmus test for Arrowhead. It hasn’t made that large a deal out of prior updates, meaning that this will be the biggest yet, and if it succeeds in reviving some of the player base, the studio could look into doing something bigger. The update is somewhat of a short-term solution, but it could pave the way for a long-term one in the future.
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Helldivers 2 Is Still A Massive Success
It Was Never Meant To Be This Big
The sheer success ofHelldivers 2was a massive shock to Arrowhead, despite the backing of PlayStation and the initial bugs concerning crossplay. The player numbers at its all-time peak are not only ridiculously impressive, but they might also be unachievable again.Helldivers 2has less than 90% of its peak playerbase, ifSteam chartsare anything to go by, and that is still a respectable number of players. Boosting this a little and maintaining the players for longer would be enough to keep the game going.
During its peak,Helldivers 2’s creative director issued an apology since the game was so popular that players had problems with logging in.
Any kind of update forHelldivers 2that gains some publicity and traction will boost the game’s numbersjust because Arrowhead has a reputation for delivering good, new content and maintaining a competent live service model. Players trust Arrowhead and because the Escalation of Freedom is free, there’s almost no reason not to try it out. The studio has done a good job with its marketing to let everyone know it’s happening, too.
Ultimately, it will depend on whether the Escalation of Freedom update will add enough toHelldivers 2in order to keep more players interested for longer. Plenty of players will log back in and rejoin the ranks of Super Earth’s military out of curiosity, but these players staying will depend on whether there are enough gameplay additions to stop things from getting stale. Hopefully, Arrow will add the Illuminate faction to its golden goose to better guarantee a greater revival of the game’s playerbase.
Source:SteamDB/Helldivers 2
