Key Takeaways
- Helldivers 2 has been bleeding players for the past few months, down to a combination of controversial updates and disappointing nerfs.
- With the imminent release of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, there’s concern among the Helldivers 2 community that players could be tempted to jump ship.
- While Helldivers 2 is nowhere near Concord levels of players, some are worried that Helldivers 2 could suffer greatly if Space Marine 2 comes out swinging.
Helldivers 2 appears to be undergoing a pretty monumental fall from grace at the moment, as the fallout from the Escalation of Freedom update – coupled with various other controversial updates and disappointing nerfs over the past few months – has the general feeling surrounding the game more negative than ever. You’ll find countless doomposts on the game’s subreddit, as it appears trust in developer Arrowhead is at an all-time low.
Having lost 90 percent of its players on Steam at the end of June, and losing more and more each week, there’s a fear that Helldiver 2 could end up being abandoned entirely. That seems a little silly right now, considering the game is still setting daily peak player counts of over 20,000 – according to SteamDB – but a lot of players are worried that Helldivers 2 might have some stiff competition next month that could pinch a lot of players.
Helldivers 2 Fans Fear Space Marine 2’s Launch Will Kill It
Helldivers 2’s numbers are more than likely being helped right now due to the lack of similar, enticing titles on the market at the moment. That will change when Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 launches next month, a game that is also offering its players PvE co-op mayhem against swarms of enemies, and there’s a real worry among Helldivers 2 players that the game’s launch could be enough to kill it outright.
The Reddit thread embedded above is just one of many talking about the game’s prospects in the coming months, and whether Space Marine 2 has the capability of inflicting real damage on Helldivers 2’s dwindling player base. For example, Reddit user Adventurous-Event722 thinks it’s “inevitable” Space Marine 2 will take a chunk of players, but user Vampireguy20 argues that “a chunk is all that’s left.”
In a different thread, another user claims that they’re personally going to move onto Space Marine 2, along with their friends, and thinks that “a lot of people” are going to follow suit. It’s a very common sentiment that you’ll see in various threads talking about the similarities between the two games, though there is also skepticism that Space Marine 2 could similarly struggle to maintain a large audience.
Even if Space Marine 2 does come flying out of the gates and impresses, chances are Helldivers 2 will be just fine. It still has thousands of players on PC alone, and could potentially have even more on PlayStation. It’s far from deserving the dreaded title of “dead game” at the moment, and the imminent arrival of the Illuminate will boost player numbers again. Hopefully, Arrowhead will use the opportunity to make some meaningful changes.