Helldivers 2 sees an 986% increase in players following 1.001.100 update

After weeks of anticipation, coupled with a week-long tease hyping up the patch, Arrowhead Game Studios has finally released the first Helldivers 2 update of the 60-day roadmap, the 1.001.100 patch. This update looks to rectify many of the issues that the game has been facing in recent months, including the developers turning most players away with reactionary updates that nerfed any weapon deemed overpowered. Now, the developers look to be taking the first steps at rebuilding the community, as the update has been a huge hit, bringing tens of thousands of players back.

According to Steamdb, Helldivers 2 hit an all-time low in player count one week ago, with just 5,445 concurrent Steam players and approximately 7,000 across both platforms. Following the 1.001.100 update, the player count jumped to 59,181 on Steam and over 80,000 including PlayStation, a 986% increase compared to the previous week.

This is a huge boost that shows the level of excitement that the Helldivers 2 community had for the update and that many players have been wanting to come back but waiting for the game to be brought to a fun state. The 1.001.100 has been a huge success, with the community reception being extremely positive, which could be a great first step to rebuilding the game’s reputation.

Last month, Arrowhead Game Studios released the Escalation of Freedom update, which brought over 100,000 concurrent players back as the game entered Arc 2. Unfortunately, due to nerfs of popular weapons such as the Flamethrower and Breaker Incendiary Shotgun, many of the players quickly left again and Helldivers 2 has been on a downward trend ever since. It will be interesting to see how the player count fluctuates over the next few weeks and whether this update has had a long-term positive outcome for the game.