While it had an explosive launch earlier this year and took the gaming industry by storm with hundreds of thousands of players for many months, the popularity of Helldivers 2 eventually tapered off as is often the case with new games (though make no mistake, it's always maintained a healthy, consistent player base). Thanks to the surprise release of the co-op shooter's long-awaited Illuminate faction at The Game Awards, though, it's skyrocketed back into the limelight — and there are numbers to back that up.
According to data from SteamDB, Helldivers 2 soared from its typical evening average of ~20,000 concurrent players up to a peak of 137,735 on Thursday night, with 129,905 currently fighting on the Galactic War's front lines as I write this. On top of that, it's once again taken the first-place position on Steam's official Top Sellers chart, even managing to surpass current juggernauts like Marvel Rivals and Path of Exile 2.
