The “90%” claim refers to a drop in Steam concurrent players reported in late June and early July 2024—not a verified loss of 90% of everyone who owns or plays Helldivers 2. It also does not describe the game’s current player count. The separate fastest-selling PlayStation game record is based on sales: Guinness World Records says the game sold 12 million combined PC and PlayStation units in its first 12 weeks.
What the 90% figure actually measures
HotHardware’s July 1, 2024 report—the source matching the headline—cited 45,315 concurrent players on Steam and described that snapshot as roughly one-tenth of the reported peak. Concurrent players are people playing at a particular moment; that figure is not the number of unique owners, the number of people who played over a month, or the total audience across platforms. HotHardware’s July 2024 report provides the snapshot and its comparison.
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Other contemporary reports used different Steam comparisons, which is why the exact metric and date matter:
| Report | Measure and comparison |
|---|---|
| Forbes, June 30, 2024 | Compared a reported concurrent-player figure of 44,093 with a Steam peak of 458,709, framing the decline as 90% over four months. |
| Stevivor, July 2, 2024 | Reported a Steam 30-day average of 41,860, compared with 166,305 at the end of May and an all-time concurrent peak of 458,709; the article says its figures exclude PS5. |
These are historical figures, not interchangeable measurements: one is a point-in-time concurrent count and another is a rolling average. None establishes how many people owned the game or played across all platforms.
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Why the Steam figure is not the whole player base
Helldivers 2 is available on Steam and PlayStation 5, and Arrowhead’s FAQ confirms cross-play. The Steam charts cited in the July 2024 coverage do not count PS5 activity. A decrease in Steam concurrency therefore cannot establish the same percentage decline in the combined PC-and-PlayStation audience—or show that 90% of all players stopped playing.
Arrowhead describes the game as a third-person squad-based shooter for squads of up to four. Its FAQ, updated September 24, 2026, lists Steam and PS5, says an internet connection is required, and notes that PS Plus is required for PS5 online play but not for Steam users. Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2 FAQ has the platform and play requirements.
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How the sales record differs from the player decline
Guinness World Records identifies Helldivers 2 as the fastest-selling PlayStation game, recording 12 million combined PC and PlayStation units sold in the 12 weeks after its February 8, 2024 launch. The record is dated May 14, 2024. Sony separately reported more than 12 million sell-through units on PS5 and PC as of May 5, 2024. Both are sales measures—not counts of players online at once.
Guinness World Records’ record entry defines the 12-week sales claim. Sony’s 2024 Game & Network Services presentation reports its sell-through figure and date.
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What later reporting says—and does not say
A November 2025 GameSpot article reported estimates from Alinea Analytics of 12.7 million Steam copies sold and more than 200,000 Steam owners playing daily. Those are third-party estimates as reported at that time, not official Sony figures or a verified player count for October 2026. They also use measures different from the 2024 concurrent-player snapshots. GameSpot’s November 2025 report attributes the estimates to Alinea Analytics.
Do the reports establish why Steam activity fell?
No. The 2024 coverage discussed possible contributors such as content cadence, balance changes, and controversy over a PlayStation Network sign-in requirement. The cited figures and commentary do not isolate the effect of any one factor or prove that a particular decision caused the measured change. The sound conclusion is narrower: the reported Steam activity was well below its peak in the cited 2024 comparisons.
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