Helldivers II best-selling premium game of 2024 year-to-date after placing 2nd in March. Ranks 7th in lifetime US. PC/Console both successful.
- Thread starter Gamernyc78
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In a massive rebuke against people saying Sony's PC Strategy or GaaS strategy is a failure, Helldivers becomes the 7th highest grossing game they've published in the US in their entire history... after checks notes... 2 months on the market.
Could very easily become their highest grossing game in their entire history.
Could very easily become their highest grossing game in their entire history.
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Holy shit it's number #7... ever? That's quite ridiculous...25m+ seller when it's said and done?
could do even more if they properly support it. like DLC and shit..
That #7 for Helldivers 2 is even more impressive when you realize that it's in dollars amount and not unit sold.
The game is being sold at $40, lots of people bought the game.
Just a few weeks until the earnings report so we can get some real numbers.
The game is being sold at $40, lots of people bought the game.
Just a few weeks until the earnings report so we can get some real numbers.
You're thinking entirely too small.
It could sell 100 million units if it is supported. Mobile Port, maybe even an Xbox/Switch port.
Starship Troopers tie-in, Killzone tie-in, Destiny tie-in, Returnal tie-in...
Helldivers movie with much of the cast from Starship Troopers re-cast as a pseudo sequel to Starship Troopers.
The sky is the limit...
Wait until this becomes a F2P game...
Console ports definitely aren't going to happen, I think f2p would ruin the value of the game.
Tie ins with Sony property would be cool in theory but it would retract the games identity. Best take you had here is the movie... a Helldivers movie I can see being very, very popular.
I wouldn't count anything out. It's probably pretty limited as a system seller and the continual revenue that Sony could get after they start to monetize the game is tremendous. Even putting it on Xbox could sell you another 5-10 million copies transitioning to registered users.
It'll change the value of the game.
Do tie-ins retract from Fortnite's identity? I'm sure Sony will take it regardless.
Bots don't buy games, it would do 2 million maximum. The rest will go from portbegging to gamepass begging. I'd bet my house it won't happen.
Wait, you think they'll buy CoD but they won't buy Helldivers? Would love a breakdown as to why you think that.
Helldivers 2 already made more money in USA than every other Sony published game in all their history (not only during its first 2 months, but in their entire lifetime).
Plus to add a ton of purchasable stuff, because the content the have until now is ok as extras for a paid game, but not enough for a F2P.
A F2P needs way more extra revenue via IAP/passes because first would have to compensate the revenue lost from selling the games and second would have to compensate the server costs of having way more users.
But maybe several years in the future, once they added many warbonds more, plus many more customizables in the rotating store, and include extra customizables that could be paid with real money (as could be further weapon and armor cosmetic customization), if they see that the post launch monetization and retention is good enough they could move to F2P. I think it's difficult but possible.
PS Studios doesn't publish games on rival consoles, so won't port the game there. In this case in particular, the game engine is discontinued so I highly doubt it supports Switch, Xbox Series or modern mobile devices and OS versions. In fact, may not feature mobile at all.
Regarding the potential mobile version, before considering it they should first make the game F2P on PS & PC and see if it adapts well to F2P. And after that to figure out how to port the game to mobile.
Regarding guest content for IPs that fit like Starship Troopers and many futuristic Sony IPs I think that it would make total sense, that it would be cool and that it would work very well. Even if it's just cosmetic skins of already existing armors and weapons. In addition to the brands you mentiond I'd also include Concord, Marathon, Wipeout and Horizon.
Arrowhead already mentioned about tie-ins, and mentioned that only would consider the ones that fit, to make it carefully to don't turn it into a mess like CoD featuring Nicki Minaj and the weird mix that Fornite is.
I assume the idea of Arrowhead is to keep the guest content limited to a tiny portion of the total, and only including things that fit very well with the brand and that would pass as items of the brand.
The game is not ready to go F2P, they'd have to change its economy and progression, making it way more aggresive and greedy.
Plus to add a ton of purchasable stuff, because the content the have until now is ok as extras for a paid game, but not enough for a F2P.
A F2P needs way more extra revenue via IAP/passes because first would have to compensate the revenue lost from selling the games and second would have to compensate the server costs of having way more users.
But maybe several years in the future, once they added many warbonds more, plus many more customizables in the rotating store, and include extra customizables that could be paid with real money (as could be further weapon and armor cosmetic customization), if they see that the post launch monetization and retention is good enough they could move to F2P. I think it's difficult but possible.
PS Studios doesn't publish games on rival consoles, so won't port the game there. In this case in particular, the game engine is discontinued so I highly doubt it supports Switch, Xbox Series or modern mobile devices and OS versions. In fact, may not feature mobile at all.
Regarding the potential mobile version, before considering it they should first make the game F2P on PS & PC and see if it adapts well to F2P. And after that to figure out how to port the game to mobile.
Regarding guest content for IPs that fit like Starship Troopers and many futuristic Sony IPs I think that it would make total sense, that it would be cool and that it would work very well. Even if it's just cosmetic skins of already existing armors and weapons. In addition to the brands you mentiond I'd also include Concord, Marathon, Wipeout and Horizon.
Make sure they'll make a Helldivers movie and / or tv show, the game is being ultra successful and fits super well.
Arrowhead already mentioned about tie-ins, and mentioned that only would consider the ones that fit, to make it carefully to don't turn it into a mess like CoD featuring Nicki Minaj and the weird mix that Fornite is.
I assume the idea of Arrowhead is to keep the guest content limited to a tiny portion of the total, and only including things that fit very well with the brand and that would pass as items of the brand.
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We're reaching a seminal moment in Sony's history and in the history of PlayStation where Sony is really embracing being a software publisher first.
You look at the market cap of ABK and relative to everything they were probably worth more than SIE. This was the case because of CoD and WoW and Candy Crush.
3 games...
Software has the potential for significantly higher margins than hardware even when you consider royalties.
The console wars are dead. Sony won, but a lot of console warriors are upset because they're on to new territory.
You look at the market cap of ABK and relative to everything they were probably worth more than SIE. This was the case because of CoD and WoW and Candy Crush.
3 games...
Software has the potential for significantly higher margins than hardware even when you consider royalties.
The console wars are dead. Sony won, but a lot of console warriors are upset because they're on to new territory.
No, they keep focusing on their console becase their console (particularly its software, and particularly the 3rd party one) continues being by far their main revenue source.
Even if bigger than ever, the first party revenue continues being a very small part of the company revenue. And even less it's the portion of first party game revenue coming from outside PS hardware (even if yes this portion is growing a lot and is also in record numbers, like mostly everything else at SIE).
As a reference, SIE makes like $26-27B/year, and around half a billion of it is off-PS 1st party game revenue. So unter a 1/50 part.
It's growing a lot, super fast and is a strategical part for future (and current) growth. But still is only a small extra secondary revenue channel.
No, SIE continues being in top of ABK in the top grossing rankings since decades ago.
The PS console exclusive FFXIV replaced WoW as the most successful MMORPG. And the army of Sony shooters will take down CoD when combined, and maybe even a few of them individually too. Helldivers 2 apparently is doing it (let's see if it's capable to be this strong in the long term) and I think at least Marathon has potential to do it too.
Regarding Candy Crush, SIE still is in early stages of their big expansion in mobile gaming. I assume they'll want to complete their expansion to GaaS and PC, which started a few years ago and I assume will be completed around 2027 -just before the PS6 launch- once they have released their dozen GaaS and once they have ported the back catalog they consider interesting to PC and once they have their PC store running at full "Steam".
What gives Sony the biggest margin and the biggest volume of revenue and profit is the software, particularly the 3rd party one sold for their console.
It more than compensates the money they lose selling hardware, which they sell to have access to that money from the software.
Regarding the 1st party games, they're a profitable business for Sony, but isn't as profitable as the 3rd party one. The main role of Sony's game isn't to be the main revenue and profit source, or to have the best ROI, but instead to showcase the possibilities of their consoles and to be a prestige unique selling point compared to the direct competitor brands.
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You're conflating revenue and profit. Sony is looking to focus more on profit rather than just revenue, which is what you're not quite understanding. It's why they're decreasing the cost of 1st party games by reducing payroll and why they're focusing more on GaaS and PC (and eventually mobile). Because these things bring in more profit and continuous operating income.
And much of that revenue comes from hardware sales that come at an operating loss... You continue to focus on revenue...
Again, focused on revenue. ABK's market cap was 45 billion dollars. Sony as a WHOLE has a market cap today of 104 billion. SIE is only a fraction of that market cap.
It's profitable, but not enough to really push Sony to where they want to go. It's not offsetting hardware, marketing, R&D, enough.
Yeah, Sony wants it to be, again why they're focusing more on GaaS and PC games rather than just console.
Difficult to know for certain, but it's possible the gap between PC and PS5 is larger in March than it was in February.
Back in Feb Mat said PC was nearly 60%(I assume 58-59%) of Helldivers' 2 US sales.
Man gave us a little preview here from April's data.
Although that is not difficult to figure out if you just look at the CCUs on SteamDB for bigger games during US timezones.
HD2 is one of the few games that really have strong NA numbers on Steam relative to other time periods.
why is era acting like Sony released this game on PC on accident, they said live service games will be day and date years ago. they knew this would be a great strategy years ago, this isn't some blindsided situation. Single players will remain timed. I think sony as a perfect strat here.
PC crowd is definetly the new bots when MS dips out. they glaze steam every chance they get
PC crowd is definetly the new bots when MS dips out. they glaze steam every chance they get
But it's not "over" though, and the console is still paramount in whatever forward strategy Sony has for the next 10-15 years...
...or at least, it should be...
That said, it starts to feel more and more like they are just content with what their consoles have realized so far, when even I can throw up a laundry list of areas they could significantly improve the console experience on. Besides, it's not like just because Xbox as a console may be dying, means PlayStation has no other competitors. Nintendo and Steam still exist, they're stronger as indirect competitors than Xbox has been the past 10 years as a direct competitor.
Sony better have contingencies in place if console sales start dropping down if their "publisher-first" mentality leads to things like Day 1 across multiple platforms for all games. Because that has a cause-and-effect ripple on other parts of the typical console business strategy, which'd no longer work, leading to a gradual heavy drop in console adoption rates.
Personally I have little confidence it'll remain that way going forward for non-GAAS titles. I'd just say, temper expectations; it won't surprise me if SIE are looking to tie "Day 1 PC" announcements for a few non-GAAS 1P titles at the next Showcase, just masking it with new 1P game reveals and the PS5 Pro reveal.
It'd be like how they masked the PS+ paid online at E3 2013, but in this case with much bigger ramifications going forward. Not saying I want this to happen, but I'm prepared in the chance it does happen.
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