In a big win for democracy, Helldivers 2 sales keep rising 3 weeks from launch: "An honest-to-goodness inverse decay curve so far"
Mar. 4, 2024Arrowhead’s co-op shooter is defying all expectations
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Helldivers 2sales keep on ticking up more than three weeks after launch, and even some industry analysts are dumbfounded.
As noted by analystMat Piscatella on Twitter, Helldivers 2 sales are defying the conventional wisdom that a new game will typically see its highest sales in its first week after launch and then gradually dwindle until something like a major update or discount inspires a sales bump. Instead, Helldivers 2 sales continue to increase despite no big sale or content drop since its release on February 8. Piscatella refers to this as an “honest-to-goodness inverse decay curve,” which is a rare enough thing that he calls it “amazing.”
“With an ‘inverse decay curve’ the trend reverses,” he explains. “It’s rare, particularly for bigger games. Just saying ‘growth’ doesn’t explain the nature - as ‘growth’ could be temporary, ie from discounting.
“Using the term ‘inverse decay curve’ denotes that baseline sales are improving, unrelated to short-term things that can impact incremental demand. I mean, or just keep saying it’s pretentious or obnoxious that’s cool too. Live your dream.”
Other folks in the industry are equally astonished by Helldivers 2’s enduring sales success.
Arrowhead itself didn’t expect the co-op shooter to be as explosively popular as it has been, as evidenced by theHelldivers 2 serversstruggling severelyat launch and for some time beyond asserver capacity was raisedagain and again. As we’re still only three weeks from launch, it’s anyone’s guess what Arrowhead has in store for theHelldivers 2 roadmap, but we knowits first balance patchis on the way presumably with buffs for the game’s most underperforming guns and stratagems.
With Super Earth losing another planet to the Automatons, Helldivers 2 players want the community to think harder about galactic strategy.
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After scoring a degree in English from ASU, I worked as a copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. Now, as GamesRadar’s west coast Staff Writer, I’m responsible for managing the site’s western regional executive branch, AKA my apartment, and writing about whatever horror game I’m too afraid to finish.
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