If the video game industry has shown us anything over the last several years, it’s that if you rush out a title and don’t support it properly, you will have issues with your fans and yourselves. After all, that’s part of the reason why certain companies like Square Enix are dealing with “massive losses” and having to restructure things. However, when you look at titles like Helldivers 2, which had some hype but not a lot of it, you see that Arrowhead Games bet on themselves to make something fun and special, and they absolutely crushed it. To the point where they had to overhaul their servers many times because so many people wanted to play the title!
The game itself isn’t exactly revolutionary. You play as a Super-Earth soldier going up against an alien invasion of bug-like entities. You play in a squad of four with three other players and use a variety of weapons, from basic guns to massive bombs, to get rid of the bugs and “save the day.” It’s fast, intense, hilarious, and it plays incredibly well. That’s why people have been drawn to it for less than two months since its release. It dominated the February sales charts and was No.1 in the US when it arrived.
Fast forward to now, and as noted by VGC, Helldivers 2 lost only one spot in the US sales charts during the month of March. Think about that. Most times, a game drops a few spots because of the new releases that came out, especially if they were big releases that many were hyped out. However, the game only lost one spot, and it proves that gamers love this title.
In fact, it’s doing so well that it set a record for Sony-released titles. In lifetime sales in the US after being out for two months, the game already ranks at No.7 all-time! That’s an incredible achievement for a game that no one was really talking about before it launched.
So what does this prove? Simply put, it’s another great example of a game prioritizing gameplay and fun first over having the “best graphics” or a “massive world to explore as you desire.” Arrowhead Games wanted to make a fun co-op shooter that they felt some people would want to play, and they did their best to make the best version of that kind of title. It worked, and this should be a blueprint for how developers make their games from now on.
