Helldivers 2 becomes PlayStation Studios' biggest PC launch

Helldivers II has only been out a day, and it's already Sony's most successful PC launch.

Per SteamDB, the co-op shooter has launched with 81,840 concurrent players. It bests the 2022 Steam port for Sony Santa Monica's God of War, which opened with over 73,500 players.

Trailing behind those games are Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered (66,436), Horizon Zero Dawn (56,557), and The Last of Us Part I (36,496).

At time of writing, the game is topping Steam's bestsellers chart. Shortly before launch, it'd beaten out Palworld on the list, and it seems the game is off to a strong start.

Why is Helldivers II doing so well on PC?

Sony's been bringing its first-party games to PC for years, but their success rate has been a crap shoot. Some titles do better than others, and it's not always clear why.

Helldivers II benefits from a same-day launch as its PlayStation 5 version, and at $50 vs. $70. Other PlayStation ports came to PC a year (or much later) after the original launch.

It also helps that Helldivers II doesn't seem to have any egregious PC issues beyond typical launch crashes and DRM. Compared to Last of Us, its launch woes are fairly minor.

Even with the mixed Steam rating, this launch day success bodes well for Arrowhead Game Studios. And it'll may lead to Sony reconsidering the timing of its PC ports.