Helldivers 2 is the smash hit no one saw coming — not even its developer, Arrowhead Game Studio. The latest Helldivers 2 patch raises the server capacity to support up to 700,000 concurrent players, a welcome upgrade given that the co-op shooter has hit its server capacity again and again since its explosive launch on PC and PS5 earlier this month.
However, the head of Arrowhead Game Studio says this likely won't eliminate wait times altogether — just make them "more bearable" in the meantime.
"We have updated the max CCU cap to 700,000," CEO and Helldivers 2 creative director Johan Pilestedt said in a series of posts on X (formerly known as Twitter). "Unfortunately, we expect the CCU to reach that level. We believe that the wait times will be much more bearable. In a separate tweet, he noted that, "We might still hit the limit in the future but for now we are above what we have been able to support. We are actively monitoring the situation."
Friends of @helldivers2,I have one final update for tonight. We have updated the max CCU cap to 700,000. Unfortunately, we expect the CCU to reach that level. We believe that the wait times will be much more bearable.Tomorrow we are doing some final improvements for the…February 23, 2024
After maxing out its servers shortly after launch, Helldivers 2 increased server capacity to support 250,000 concurrent players. This was later raised to 360,000 and then, just last week, to 450,000. The Arrowhead team has been steadily rolling out fixes, but there's still a lot of work to be done, as Pilestedt reminded players on X.
"It's not a matter of money or buying more servers," Pilestedt said in response to a query. "It's a matter of labor. We need to optimize the backend code. We are hitting some real limits."
The game's latest update, Helldivers 2 patch 1.000.12, not only raises the server cap but also addresses several bugs players have run into, such as getting stuck in cinematics for extended periods. The previous patch also fixed crashes triggered by joining other players' ships or when players leave a session during a bombardment. You can check out the full patch notes for Helldivers 2 on PC here.
Helldivers 2 set a record for Sony’s biggest PC game launch of all time, with a peak concurrent player figure of nearly 460,000 on Steam. As of writing this, Helldivers 3's concurrent player count is hovering right around 300,000.
In our Helldivers 2 review, my colleague Rory Mellon called it "an excellent cooperative shooter that manages to deliver memorable moments in almost every play session." That is, when the online servers are working at least — an issue that this latest patch should help address.
