Helldivers 2 has certainly had an interesting life cycle so far. From it being an early GOTY contender to it rapidly bleeding players as the game was torn to shreds by controversy, it’s no exaggeration to say the game has had a fall from grace. And, while it’s only natural for a game’s player base to decline over time unless it does something really big to keep players engaged, Helldivers 2’s nosedive has been difficult for developer Arrowhead Studios to stop.
From almost 500,000 players a short time after launch to just 20,000 daily, the game’s player count has been in freefall with only the most dedicated Helldivers sticking around. But the devs haven’t abandoned the game. They instead listened to player feedback and implemented many suggested changes in the September 17 patch in a better-late-than-never effort.
Now, Helldivers 2 is finally worth diving back into. Why did everyone abandon Helldivers 2 in the first place? While natural player count decline and the PSN controversy are certainly factors as to why Helldivers 2’s numbers have dropped since its release, there’s a more gameplay-focused reason for HD2’s downfall: It just wasn’t fun. To be more exact, the devs were insistent on nerfing the fun out of the game .
Nerfing strong strategies in competitive multiplayer games makes sense, but it doesn’t in a co-op game where you’re meant to be having fun with friends. For a long time, the people behind Helldivers were insistent on maintaining their .