Helldivers 2 is hoping to bring an end to a slow but steady player decline and is turning to a tantalizing super-powered mech suit in the hopes of slowing down the dropoff.
The Helldivers 2 developers announced the next Major order today: Liberate the planet Varylia-5 from the “despicable” Automaton Petafactory. In addition to the 50 medal reward for completing the order itself, Super Earth will convert the Automaton facility into a factory for the EXO-49 Emancipator Exosuit, a dual-Autocannon mech suit.
The Autocannon is one of the most satisfying power weapons to use in the game, and the idea of two being equipped to an exosuit mech sounds perfect to any liberty enjoyer, especially considering the frustrations players have had with the frailty of the current exosuit. But will this shiny new toy be enough to bring players back?
The player peaks and averages for Helldivers 2, according to Steam data, have steadily declined since the game launched. In May, the game is averaging less than 80,000 players and has a peak number of less than 200,000 for the first time this year.
This isn’t attributed to anything in particular that Sony and Arrowhead Game Studios have done wrong. Even the PSN account-linking fiasco didn’t result in any serious dropoff in player numbers. In fact, the reversal of the account-linking mandate even slowed the rate at which players were declining.
This isn’t to say the game hasn’t been a success as former CEO and now Chief Creative Officer Johan Pilestedt confirmed over 12 million units sold. Helldivers 2 is in an interesting position, however, as a live-service type game that’s purely co-op with no multiplayer mode, and perhaps the lack of a competitive mode or major changes like a new enemy faction is making it hard to keep players around.
