If you thought I would be the first one to charge headfirst into battle against giant death robots or arachnid swarms straight out of Starship Troopers five days ago, you’d be right. Now is not five days ago. Aliens are coming, and Super Earth needs HELLDIVERS. But how did “HELLDIVERS 2” become 2024’s most recent breakout hit, and why have things gotten a bit rocky for it lately in a rather unexpected manner?
“HELLDIVERS 2” is the long awaited sequel to “HELLDIVERS,” which was released in 2015. While the original “HELLDIVERS” was cooperative, “HELLDIVERS 2” took this to a whole new level. Now, all players work together to conquer worlds held by the two hostile factions of the game: the aforementioned Automatons and Terminids. The results of a player’s progress goes into a shared meter seen by all players where they can witness their progress in capturing the multiple worlds the game has to offer.
A very passionate community has begun to form around the game, with players coordinating their battles to make progress on specific fronts to hold off the constantly encroaching threats. This has spawned a gameplay loop driven by a war of attrition, with the players fighting through both victories and defeats. It is this sort of community-driven passion that has made the game so popular since its release, with “HELLDIVERS 2” exploding onto the steam charts over the past few days.
Well, the “HELLDIVERS 2” servers didn’t like that, which I believe could be a game killer if not addressed correctly and fast.
You see, the level of success of “HELLDIVERS 2” is amazing and unexpected by both the developers and the servers the game is hosted on. Due to the sheer volume of players, the developers over at Arrowhead, the studio behind “HELLDIVERS 2,” had to put a player number cap onto the game to prevent their systems from crashing. While the developers are working to fix this problem, I can’t help but fear that this might put a strain on the game’s short-term potential.
Like I mentioned before, this is a community-driven game that has been swept up in a massive wave of online hype. This could create massive profits and a chance to capture players for the long run. However, if these server problems persist, it is not unreasonable to fear that potential players might get scared off by worries that they won’t be able to play the game because of server issues. As such, if the issue isn’t fixed soon, I fear that this may lead to less players joining up, leading to a stunt in “HELLDIVERS 2’s” potential.
As someone who has played “HELLDIVERS 2,” I do believe the game has great potential and could become an icon of 2024’s video game landscape. Honestly, it could last quite a while if it is managed correctly. We players are doing our part fighting against the robotic and insectoid menaces, and I’m sure the developers at Arrowhead are too. But the question here is, if the game issues are resolved, will you do your part and join the fight?
