After overwhelming success, Helldivers 2 raises player cap to 450,000 to improve server stability: "We are still struggling to keep up"

Feb. 18, 2024

Arrowhead are working to up that number again

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

Despitedoubling the concurrent player capacityjust a few days ago, developer Arrowhead has once again announced a huge player cap expansion for co-op shooter Helldivers 2 while the studio attempts to maintain its now overwhelmingly large player base.

Helldivers 2 has been off to a flying start this week, quicklysurpassing the biggest PlayStation Studio launches on Steambased on concurrent players. Arrowhead has since begun anemergency hiring spreeto (try to) keep up with demand, though the team is still"completely exhausted."

“Earlier tonight we had server-related issues with a concurrent player spike,” an Arrowhead employee writes in a message posted to the game’s Discord channel, reposted onsocial media. “This lead to some mission payouts failing, some players being kicked to their ships, or being logged out,” the message continues.

“Our team is working around the clock to solve these issues. While we’ve been able to mitigate some of the causes, we are still struggling to keep up with the scaling that is needed.” Despite the overwhelming demand, the team still managed to increase concurrent player capacity to 450,000 concurrent players, up from the previous 360,000 cap, to “further improve server stability.” That means many players will likely be stuck in a queue until the capacity increases once more, or until the demand dies down (unlikely.) Encouragingly, the team is working with “partners to get the ceiling raised.”

Helldivers 2’s community-wide mission to spread democracy (and robot explosions) together has catapulted it to massive success, so it’s not surprising to hear that it’ll"never" receive a competitive player versus player slant, according to CEO Johan Pilestedt.

Have you gotten through the queue? Check outhow to rescue science teams and evacuate civilians in Helldivers 2.

Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter

Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that’s vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he’ll soon forget.

All Path of Exile 2 Ascendencies and how to get Ascendency Points

Assassin’s Creed Shadows' “core fight mechanics are the same” for both protagonists, but some enemies will be “more aggressive towards Naoe” and “fearful of Yasuke”

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim lands mixed reviews, but it’s still higher rated than one of The Hobbit movies