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Helldivers II broke 250k+ CCU on Steam: first PlayStation PC release to do so

ManaByte

Member
That's what working to survive means. You either do the work you're told to do, or you're fired.
Whats so surprising about it?

Or you find another job. If they were being forced at gunpoint to do something they didn't want to, you'd think there'd be a massive exodus of the studio in the TEN YEARS they spent making the game.
 
Or you find another job. If they were being forced at gunpoint to do something they didn't want to, you'd think there'd be a massive exodus of the studio in the TEN YEARS they spent making the game.

When they work on Arkham Batman games it's a utopia. When they work on Suicide Squad multiplayer games it's a dungeon.

This totally makes sense ManaByte ManaByte ! Get with the program!
 

RoboFu

One of the green rats
Is there any real single player mode to this or is it mainly mp focus?
 
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Whitecrow

Banned
Or you find another job. If they were being forced at gunpoint to do something they didn't want to, you'd think there'd be a massive exodus of the studio in the TEN YEARS they spent making the game.
Well, that would be a possibility, but life's not that easy.
There can be lots of reasons why people keep a job they dont really like, specially if you're a developer, where your motivation can vary so much between projects.

They might not had a gun on their heads, but if devs dont give a F about what they are working on, the mental energy to develop goes down the drain. That is a possibility too.
 

Crayon

Member
With all this I had.to go look at the game more closely. It does look appealing even in short gameplay clips.rrminds me of a warhawk. It's got a toy soldiers vibe. Like there is an intentional generic touch to the aesthetic. That's actually like starship troopers, too. It's inviting, somehow.
 

twilo99

Member
Helldivers 2 won't have much of a player base in two months. Sony knows this. Arrowhead knows this.

If this is the case, charging up front is the smarter strategy. F2P is better for games that can retain sizeable player bases.

Retaining a sizable player base is really the ultimate skill in the video game making art.. in my opinion of course
 

hemo memo

You can't die before your death
And thats what lots of us on GAF have been saying for years. If Sony wants big PC gamer numbers they got to release games on time and dont treat them as second class citizens with a game 3 years later at full price.
It’s a matter of when.
 

BlackTron

Member
Releasing a game during the hype phase paid off? Say it ain’t so!

I guess the PS5 version bombed because of that day and date release narrative. What a shame!

Day and date release narrative is about platform viability, not game sales. Game sales can be great everywhere.

If Mario 128 comes out on PC and Nintendo the same day. Yes many people who just have a cheaper Nintendo will still buy it there. And their ecosystem will take a massive hit because you'll no longer need Nintendo to play it next time.

Exclusive games aren't just about getting sales from those games. They're also supposed to be USP's that make your ecosystem necessary. Once people are in your ecosystem you make more money from more business that takes place in it.

Helldivers isn't really a system seller. It's the perfect example of a game that if a PC user had to wait 2 years they would just wait or play something else than buy a system. They're better off grabbing the launch money and having a stronger gaas game.

Day and date Last of Us 3 would still be looney. May as well be Xbox at that point
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Christian Bale GIF by PeacockTV


Let's see a single player game now.

Just need a day one release and it's guaranteed I think.
 

BlackTron

Member
Or you find another job. If they were being forced at gunpoint to do something they didn't want to, you'd think there'd be a massive exodus of the studio in the TEN YEARS they spent making the game.

Being forced at gunpoint isn't really a figure of speech that coincides with "leave of you want"
 

BlackTron

Member
Just need a day one release and it's guaranteed I think.

Of course a day one release on PC on a system seller grade exclusive would very likely mean strong sales of the Steam version out of the gate.

Unfortunately these games exist for more reasons than simply making the most possible sales. If that were the case Sony may as well release the game on anything they possibly can. They aren't a third party developer, the purpose of these games is to support a healthy ecosystem.

Put it this way. If a PS exclusive game means that you end up playing Fortnite and buy V bucks on PS instead of Xbox or old PC. Then the game did it's job.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Of course a day one release on PC on a system seller grade exclusive would very likely mean strong sales of the Steam version out of the gate.

Unfortunately these games exist for more reasons than simply making the most possible sales. If that were the case Sony may as well release the game on anything they possibly can. They aren't a third party developer, the purpose of these games is to support a healthy ecosystem.

Put it this way. If a PS exclusive game means that you end up playing Fortnite and buy V bucks on PS instead of Xbox or old PC. Then the game did it's job.

Book marked for the future. I think we will see a day one playstation single player game within 5 years.
 
Book marked for the future. I think we will see a day one playstation single player game within 5 years.
Mtx, 3rd party sales, and subscription services is where Sony makes its money. 1st party game sales is behind all of those. Look at Xbox. They have the best deal in gaming with Gamepass and finally a solid 1st party output this generation but their console sales are behind the Xbox 1. There is no reason to own an Xbox if you game on PC. That is why their console sales are down. Sony doesn't want to lose 10+million in console sales because PC gamers stay home
 

yurinka

Member
Is there any real single player mode to this or is it mainly mp focus?
There aren't game modes. There are missions that you can complete in different ways, as you wish:
  • To go in a 2-4 people coop team (all friends)
  • To go in a 2-4 people coop team (with random people with similar level via matchmaking)
  • To go in a 2-4 people coop team (mixture of friends and random people)
  • To go alone (more difficult, think Monster Hunter or Destiny)
Players can drop in or drop out in the middle of the mission or when you are in the hub, your ship (or someone else's ship).

I assume communication between players is desired for hard difficulty missions, but at least in the easy and medium difficulties I played the communication isn't needed.

I played mostly alone, then in some missions with random players and only a few with friends.

As you play, you unlock cool stuff like new weapons, super attacks, passive skills, cosmetics etc. Playing alone you still get them, but at a slower pace.

Mission loot and rewards are shared between the players of the mission, and playing with other people you kill more stuff, complete the mission fster and collect more loot, so you get better rewards. And playing with other people is way easier to play missions of harder difficulty.
 

Yoboman

Member
Mtx, 3rd party sales, and subscription services is where Sony makes its money. 1st party game sales is behind all of those. Look at Xbox. They have the best deal in gaming with Gamepass and finally a solid 1st party output this generation but their console sales are behind the Xbox 1. There is no reason to own an Xbox if you game on PC. That is why their console sales are down. Sony doesn't want to lose 10+million in console sales because PC gamers stay home
Reminder the average LTV of a PlayStation user is $622


If they lose 10 million of those to PC that's $6.2 billion dollars. Let's just assume they take home only 30% of that, that's still $1.6 billion and doesn't include purchase of the console itself. Thats a LOT of Steam sales to make up

My estimate is they'd need to sell at least 3 million full priced $70 units for every 1 million users they lose on PlayStation
 
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BlackTron

Member
My estimate is they'd need to sell at least 3 million full priced $70 units for every 1 million users they lose on PlayStation

There are also intangible losses from the shifting userbase. A community helps self-perpetuate/reinforce itself. That would be 1 million friends no longer acting as free advertising or making a PS seem necessary to play together; you can't even quantify the loss, but it's there.
 

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
There are also intangible losses from the shifting userbase. A community helps self-perpetuate/reinforce itself. That would be 1 million friends no longer acting as free advertising or making a PS seem necessary to play together; you can't even quantify the loss, but it's there.

This thinking is flawed as it assumes every PC sale is a sale taken away from PS5. That’s obviously not true.

PlayStation owners only care about their plastic box. Sony is looking at the bigger picture. They’re looking at an untapped audience with a presence in countries where they aren’t.

To Sony there’s no difference if word of mouth for their games is building on PC or PlayStation. They’re looking to grow their brand, and PC/Mobile are the only neutral platforms to help do it.

Console users have to get over their insecurity. Sony knows how to run their business.
 

Mibu no ookami

Demoted Member® Pro™
Reminder the average LTV of a PlayStation user is $622


If they lose 10 million of those to PC that's $6.2 billion dollars. Let's just assume they take home only 30% of that, that's still $1.6 billion and doesn't include purchase of the console itself. Thats a LOT of Steam sales to make up

My estimate is they'd need to sell at least 3 million full priced $70 units for every 1 million users they lose on PlayStation


Do you have any evidence that putting first party PlayStation Studios games largely after the fact is impacting sales to that degree?

The amount of slow down you'd see from PlayStation sales if that were the case just isn't born out in reality. Not sure if you realize, but 10 million is more units than the Dreamcast sold altogether.

Is the PS5 on pace to sell below the PS4 or above?

Steam's growth is pretty much in line with their growth rates before Sony started porting their games.

I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying you have literally zero evidence to support your hypothesis.
 

Mibu no ookami

Demoted Member® Pro™
This thinking is flawed as it assumes every PC sale is a sale taken away from PS5. That’s obviously not true.

PlayStation owners only care about their plastic box. Sony is looking at the bigger picture. They’re looking at an untapped audience with a presence in countries where they aren’t.

To Sony there’s no difference if word of mouth for their games is building on PC or PlayStation. They’re looking to grow their brand, and PC/Mobile are the only neutral platforms to help do it.

Console users have to get over their insecurity. Sony knows how to run their business.

It's like claiming that putting games on Steam is actually increasing PS5 sales because gamers who bought God of War and Spider-Man wanted to play the sequels.

There's just little to no way to really determine that with out a deep dive survey.

My nephew and his dad played God of War Ragnarok on PS5, but they totally skipped God of War 2018. If you assumed because he was a new playstation account that didn't have God of War 2018 ever installed against it i.e. no trophies or play time, you'd probably assume he was coming from PC, but that wasn't the case.

Many people who buy God of War Ragnarok and Spider-Man 2 will not have played the originals and some who played the originals won't buy the sequel, so even if they sell the exact same amount, you have to assume for some drop off and some new additions.
 

BlackTron

Member
This thinking is flawed as it assumes every PC sale is a sale taken away from PS5. That’s obviously not true.
This is just a strawman, nobody assumed that, and this isn't necessary to be true for the point to be valid.
PlayStation owners only care about their plastic box.
Wrong, console warriors only care about their plastic box.
Sony is looking at the bigger picture. They’re looking at an untapped audience with a presence in countries where they aren’t.
That's one reason you have a trail of late exclusives heading to PC. If they don't exist there yet, they can get TLOU1 while the existing markets have TLOU2 only on PS.
To Sony there’s no difference if word of mouth for their games is building on PC or PlayStation. They’re looking to grow their brand, and PC/Mobile are the only neutral platforms to help do it.
Yes there is. To Sony, growing Playstation is better because they make more money on all business within PS than on Steam (including the initial game sale, in fact, but that's not even my point). Yes, once they have reached "saturation" of potential in the console they might want to turn to other markets, BUT without completely ruining the unique USP of the console in the process -that's why they have this nuanced, careful approach and you have only the first TLOU game on PC right now.
Console users have to get over their insecurity. Sony knows how to run their business.
I like to think Sony knows how to run their business, which is, I believe, why they haven't done it yet.
 

DeepSpace5D

Member
Gotta be a higher ccu count than most people anticipated. Curious to see how high it gets at this point.

I imagine this is the type of success Sony was hoping to see out of Arrowhead, and with their close working relationship, probably a good candidate to bring into the PlayStation studios family.
 
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Faust

Perpetually Tired
Imagine comparing an Arrowhead Studios game to Halo and Starfield.

Talk about punching well above your weight.

I think it says more about how disappointing and awful StarField and Halo were to be so insanely low compared to projections and the History of their franchises/studios. Meanwhile Helldivers 2 is a sequel to a modest success indie game And it is doing very well for itself.
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
First one since their strategy change that releases day 1 after all.

Also, focus coop.
Nothing to do with being day one, those games would still sell shit on PC regardless because the audience just isn't there
Helldivers 2 appeals to PC audience more, that and the original was on PC too.
 

FunkMiller

Banned
Or you find another job. If they were being forced at gunpoint to do something they didn't want to, you'd think there'd be a massive exodus of the studio in the TEN YEARS they spent making the game.

Ah yes, the famously stable and easy to get into video games industry is the perfect environment to just walk away from a large developer, and walk straight into a better job. It’s not like people at executive level talk with one another on the golf course.

Come on now.

Enough leaks and info have come out over those ten years to tell us that the pivot to making dogshit GaaS was not something Rocksteady wanted. The two founders hung on for as long as they could stand it, but still left before that travesty was put out.

even you must be see it was a colossal mistake to make it at this point… a colossal mistake made by executives, not developers.

As for Helldivers success. It’s pretty cheap, and seems to offer a hell of a lot completely free straight away.
 
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Mibu no ookami

Demoted Member® Pro™
Factions was canceled mid December 2023. Its most likely one of the 12

It was announced that it was canceled Mid December. You think they decided to cancel it and announced it the next day? Talks of canceling it would have been going on for months.

It probably isn't in the list.
 
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