Helldivers 2 has sold over 12 million copies, making it the fastest-selling PlayStation game ever: 'There are more Helldivers than there are Swedes'

GamesThird Person ShooterHelldivers 2Helldivers 2 has sold over 12 million copies, making it the fastest-selling PlayStation game ever: ‘There are more Helldivers than there are Swedes’When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)

helldivers 2

Every game studio has the same, overriding goal: To field enough players to destroy Sweden. Companies like Capcom andActivisionhave, of course, had more than enough players in their myriad series to occupy Stockholm for some time, but now a plucky upstart has joined their ranks.

As announced in the Sony earnings call, we have sold over 12M units!It’s crazy to think that there are more Helldivers than there are Swedes 🤯What a massive achievement from everyone involved in realizing @Helldivers2. A massive thank you to the community for your support,…May 14, 2024

It’s difficult to find concrete numbers for Helldivers 1’s sales, but I would be astonished if Helldivers 2 wasn’t outpacing its predecessor at an exponential rate. Helldivers 2 has benefited from downright epidemic word-of-mouth and a level of popularity sufficient to practicallycrash its serversat launch. Plus, it’s dominated videogames discourse comfortably for three months now.

Wecancompare it to Arrowhead’s first Magicka game, though: That soldnearly 3 million copies on Steamin about three years. So yeah, Helldivers 2 is doing a little better.

It’s a richly deserved success. I’m not much of a multiplayer guy, but I can tell you that Helldivers has had the PC Gamer offices in something of a death-grip since it hit three months ago, and my understanding is that everyone’s been having a very good time reducing the enemies of managed democracy to a fine red paste (or nuts and bolts), at least when they cankeep up with the rapid updates.

Pilestedt doesn’t give us much of a breakdown of the game’s 12 million sales, save that about 150,000 of them are Swedes themselves. Barely one percent of the overall player total, in other words, and surely insufficient to stop the game’s advance into Småland. That’s the plan, right? I’m pretty sure that’s the plan.

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