More improvements still needed.

Throughout the evening on February 11th, Arrowhead Game Studios worked behind the scenes to try to improve the servers for the newly released Helldivers 2. You probably ran into some issues logging in, staying connected in matches, or found that you were unable to receive progression if you managed to complete a mission.

This is because the game is far more popular than anticipated. Just as the case was with Palworld, Helldivers 2 is seeing numbers that neither Arrowhead nor Sony expected. Released on Thursday, February 8, Helldivers 2 quickly became the biggest ever PC game launch for Sony. Since that initial peak of 81,840 players on Friday, Helldivers 2 quickly jumped up to a peak concurrent player count of 155,926 over the weekend and that's just from those playing on Steam.

Notably, that peak of nearly 156,000 concurrent players came as Helldivers 2 was running into server capacity limitations. Which is where today's news comes into play.

This afternoon, Arrowhead was working behind the scenes to increase server capacities for the game. A statement made by Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt says that the team at Arrowhead managed to increase the login rates from 10,000 per minute to 20,000 per minute. They were also able to increase the total capacity of concurrent players from 250,000 to 360,000.

After the increase in server capacity, Pilestedt says that they hit that new 360,000 player limit in just 5 and a half minutes after the changes were implemented.

Due to the servers being almost perpetually at capacity players may find that they are unable to log into the game immediately. Pilestedt says if "you get the 'Failed to connect to server' issue it means that the maximum number of login requests for that particular minute is exceeded and/or that the servers are full and will require someone to log out before allowing new players in". If you keep trying to connect, you should be able to get in once the new minute rolls around.

There is also an issue where players that did get in to play were not being rewarded with experience and other rewards. Pilestedt says that "the fix was mitigated but not resolved". He continues to note that "without additional server maintenance this will still not work as intended". It's suggested that rebooting the game (and dealing with the login issues again) may resolve this issue. However it is in my personal experience (and that of my friends) that this does not work.

For now, there is no timeframe on when players can expect the server and progression issues to be fully resolved. The team at Arrowhead will probably get right back to working on improvements after they get some sleep. Pilestedt offers his "sincere apologies" for the issues and that they are "doing our utmost to make it right".