Helldivers 2's peak player count has pushed past 500,000 thanks to its recent release on Xbox

Arrowhead Game Studio’s critically acclaimed third-person co-op shooter, Helldivers 2, has seen a massive resurgence in players thanks to its release on Xbox, drawing a horde of new and returning players to the game, which pushed Helldivers 2’s server to its limits.

On Helldivers' official Discord server, an Arrowhead developer confirmed that player counts spiked well beyond previous records. At one point, the game’s total player count after launch on Xbox soared to 500,490, surpassing the game’s prior all-time peak of 458,709 on Steam nearly 1.5 years ago.

According to community posts and the in-game tracker, reports indicated that player counts hovered between 380,000 and 420,000 concurrent players on Xbox launch day. SteamDB data indicates that 167,795 of those players were PC users, suggesting that more than 250,000 active players were on consoles, the majority of them being Xbox users.

However, the developers negated the initial community estimates, noting that the true peak count was 500,490. While the massive player surge was a welcome boon for the Helldivers community and its publisher, servers, however, were overwhelmed, resulting in crashes. 

At one moment, around 390,000 concurrent players were spreading ‘Democracy’ against Terminid, Illuminate, and Automaton fronts, only for a widespread server crash to drop the player count immediately to 146,818.

Players were quick to report in-game crashes on Xbox, which prevented gamers from progressing past the initial cutscenes and rejoining game sessions. But that’s not all, even PC players started experiencing connection issues amid the massive influx.

Previously, Arrowhead Game Studios repeatedly worked to expand and raise the game’s server capacity due to unprecedented levels of success. Previously, the game's original cap was raised to 250,000, then 360,000, and ultimately 700,000.

Helldivers 2’s arrival on Xbox marks the first time a Sony-published exclusive arrived on Xbox, coinciding with Xbox-exclusive Gears of War: Reloaded’s release on PlayStation.

Accompanying the release is a new Helldivers 2 x Halo ODST Warbond, costing 2,100 Super Credits or $19.99, and featuring the A-9 Helljumper Set, the MA5C Assault Rifle, the Mean Green Hellpod, M7S SMG, A-35 Armor Set, and the Eye of Clandestine Cape.