Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. Features

Bringing Helldivers 2 to Xbox eventually isn’t such a bad idea

Tomas Franzese
By
Four soldiers walk in a Helldivers 2 trailer.
Sony Interactive Entertainment

It bugs Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer that Arrowhead Game Studios and Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Helldivers 2 is not on Xbox. In a recent interview with Game File, Spencer stated that he’s “not exactly sure who it helps in the industry by not being on Xbox,” even though he understands that “there’s a legacy in console gaming that we’re going to benefit by shipping games and not putting them on other places.”

That raises a good question: Should Helldivers 2 come to Xbox Series X/S? No plans for that are announced at this time. Although Spencer is likely saying Sony should do this because it would line up with Microsoft’s current strategy, I don’t think it would be such a bad idea once we’re a ways out from this console exclusive’s launch. At the very least, the wild success Helldivers 2 has seen on PC proves that PlayStation may benefit from eventually releasing more of its games on other platforms. The company already seems keenly aware of that, too.

Two soldiers in a Helldivers 2 trailer.
Sony Interactive Entertainment

Helldivers 2 launched on PS5 as a console exclusive on February 8. Over a week after its launch, it appears in second place, right between Fortnite and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, on the PlayStation Store’s “Top 10 games in your country” section on PS5. That’s an impressive feat for a Sony-published multiplayer game with relatively low prelaunch hype. But it is doing just as well, if not better, on PC.

Recommended Videos

According to data from SteamDB, the concurrent player count of Helldivers 2 has reached 255,189 players on Steam, an all-time high for a PlayStation PC release. It’s maintaining around 200,000 concurrent players on that platform alone as I’m writing this. That’s a ton of players that Helldivers 2 just wouldn’t have had it been locked as a console exclusive, and this cooperative multiplayer game is all the better for it. Crossplay support and a multiplatform release have even helped with the game’s matchmaking struggles, as I’ve been able to group up with PC players more consistently than with PS5 players.

Related

Helldivers 2 is thriving as a multiplayer game, and part of that success is because it’s available on PC. This game being a hit on PC is something Sony can’t ignore going forward, and I think it’s cognizant of that. During a Q&A following the release of its third-quarter 2023 financial statement, Sony President Hiroki Totoki seemed bullish on embracing multiplatform releases, Video Games Chronicle reported.

“In the past, we wanted to popularize consoles, and a first-party title’s main purpose was to make the console popular,” Totoki said. “This is true, but there’s a synergy to it, so if you have strong first-party content – not only on our console but also other platforms, like computers – a first-party [game] can be grown with multiplatform, and that can help operating profit to improve, so that’s another one we want to proactively work on. I personally think there are opportunities out there for improvement of margin, so I would like to go aggressive on improving our margin performance.”

A Helldivers 2 player fires a laser canon.
Sony Interactive Entertainment.

We are seeing more multiplayer first-party PlayStation titles slated for PC from launch, like Fairgame$ and Concord. Bungie’s Marathon reboot is even confirmed for Xbox Series X. There’s a clear shift in strategy at companies like Sony and Microsoft now because they’re essentially noticing that they’re leaving money on the table by not making their games more readily available. Of course, there is a benefit to having a compelling console exclusive like Helldivers 2: it gives people a reason to buy a PS5. But years after its release, there will be plenty of other, newer console exclusives to take Helldivers 2’s place, and at that point, an Xbox release doesn’t sound like such a bad idea if it ensures live service support continues and keeps the player count high.

Helldivers 2 achieved a massive level of success without Xbox. In response to Spencer’s statement to Game File, its status as a hit is undoubtedly helping out Arrowhead Game Studios and Sony. But, as a multiplayer game still maintaining its live service years after release, does Helldivers 2 eventually coming to Xbox sound like a bad idea? To me, it doesn’t. The sweet spot for first- and second-party multiplatform releases ultimately lies somewhere between Totoki’s and Spencer’s sentiments.

I’m OK with Xbox and PlayStation occasionally having a surprise console-exclusive win, like Hi-Fi Rush or Helldivers 2. If it makes sense months or years later to bring those games to competing platforms or boost availability by having them on PC from the start, as a player, I’m fine reaping the benefits of multiplatform support, like bolstered player counts. PlayStation and Xbox still need exclusives to draw people to their respective platforms, but exclusivity shouldn’t matter much to players years after release, especially for multiplayer titles like Helldivers 2. PlayStation and Xbox are just brands — it’s the quality and health of the games and the people who make them that truly matter.

Helldivers 2 is available now for PC and PS5.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Tomas Franzese
Tomas Franzese
Gaming Staff Writer
Tomas Franzese is a Staff Writer at Digital Trends, where he reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…
Stray isn’t the only emotional, postapocalyptic animal game out today
stray and endling extinction is forever comparison

Annapurna Interactive's Stray is the most noteworthy game releasing this week. It's an atmospheric post-apocalyptic game that muses about humanity's self-destructive tendencies and how nature will outlast us all. Oh, and it stars an adorable cat.
Stray's purrfect protagonist has garnered a lot of attention, in turn exposing people to an emotional experience about humanity's impact on nature. But what if I told you it wasn't the only environmentally friendly game starring a cute animal to launch today on July 19. Enter Endling: Extinction is Forever.
Developed by Herobeat Studios and published by HandyGames, Endling: Extinction is Forever is an adventure survival game that doesn't pull any punches in showing how humanity decimates the environment and ruins the lives of animals that just want to survive. Both Stray and Endling: Extinction is Forever touch on the horrors of our global environmental crisis and humanity's impact on animals and nature, and both are worth your time, even if Stray is the one dominating the conversation.
Endling - Extinction is Forever // Release Date Reveal Trailer
Extinction in real-time
From the start, Endling: Extinction is Forever doesn't pull any punches. You play as a mother fox, running through a burning forest at the beginning of the game. She's knocked off a cliff by a dying moose, almost hit by a car, and hides in a small cave. She gives birth to four cubs, which you can customize with different colors and fur features. It's a memorable start to the adventure, and the struggles only continue from there.
One of your four cubs is kidnapped by a hunter at the start of the adventure, and from there, you explore with your three remaining cubs by your side. You'll scavenge for food, teach your cubs how to dig, climb, and more as you encounter new obstacles, and learn more about the megacorp ruining what was once a lush area rife with wildlife. Your three remaining cubs can die in some situations, too, so the survival aspect of Endling: Extinction is Forever is emphasized just as much as the exploration of this ever-evolving map.

The routes you explore constantly evolve as the game progresses, not just visually but in the obstacles you encounter. Areas that were once safe will have instant-kill guard dogs, making treks for food longer. The furry hunters roam the map, keeping you on your toes, and food appears somewhat randomly, so you aren't guaranteed to get fed from the same spot every day. The game does an excellent job of putting you in the mindset of this miserable animal that just wants it and its cubs to survive while the world around it is doing everything to kill them.
A couple of strays
While Endling: Extinction is Forever is more tense and high stakes, it's thematically similar to Stray. In Digital Trends' Stray review, we noted that the game "delivers a socially conscious sci-fi narrative" and has a "clear environmentalist streak, for instance, digging into how humanity is poisoning itself out of existence." Endling: Extinction is Forever tackles the same topic but shines a greater spotlight on letting the player see the downfall play out. You see people in the area ruining the environment before turning against each other and nearly being wiped out. The world is constantly changing in Endling: Extinction is Forever, and you can feel it, even as a fox.

Read more
I don’t need Starfield because I have The Outer Worlds
The spacer looks out over a vast horizon in The Outer Worlds 2 key art.

Starfield will be one of the biggest games of 2023, but I'm not that excited to play it yet.
While  Starfield's spotlight at the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase this year highlighted some impressive features, I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd already gotten everything I'd want from a traditional sci-fi RPG like this from another game: The Outer Worlds from Obsidian Entertainment. Ironically developed by another Microsoft-owned studio, The Outer Worlds showed that bloating up a sci-fi game with thousands of planets isn't necessary when a "less is more" mentality can still result in an expertly designed sci-fi RPG. 
Although The Outer Worlds might not be as nearly as grand as Starfield in scope, it still leaves an impression every time I revisit it. It's a focused, replayable, and hilarious adventure without much bloat, which is what I want from my RPGs. It does this while emulating Bethesda's classic The Elder Scrolls and Fallout games too, beating Starfield to the punch.
Starfield could impress me when it launches, but what I've seen of it hasn't got me that eager to play it when I'm so content with replaying The Outer Worlds while avidly waiting for its sequel.
Starfield: Official Gameplay Reveal
Fewer worlds, more fun
From the moment your escape pod accidentally lands on a bounty hunter that's supposed to help you, it's clear that The Outer Worlds is a tongue-in-cheek, satirical take on capitalism, colonization, and the sci-fi genre as a whole. While Bethesda Game Studios' narratives have their fair share of humor, much of its writing tends to be more serious and dryly written. We haven't seen enough of Starfield's dialogue or narrative to get a sense of its thematic identity yet.
Starfield's narrative could be more playful than we've seen so far, but the game's massive scope is what really worries me. During the Microsoft showcase, Todd Howard boasted that there are over 1,000 planets to explore. Because Starfield is so huge, I worry that it risks feeling unfocused. Will I get bored on planets that aren't very handcrafted and don't have as much to do? It's the same potential issue that infamously plagued No Man's Sky at launch.
Meanwhile, The Outer Worlds and its upcoming sequel are intentionally designed to avoid those bloat issues, according to former Obsidian Entertainment Narrative Designer Nitai Poddar in a 2019 Game Informer interview. "There is a lot of value in having an open-ended game that is still structured around individual discreet levels," he said. "It also tends to be easier to develop, and I'm always a fan of making the most of a budget that you have."

The Outer Worlds' developers didn't have a huge budget, and kept the game small but very tightly designed as a result. You might not be able to explore entire planets or fly between them, but you'll definitely remember what you did on every single one you visited. This smaller scope allowed the studio to make the world more reactive to each dialogue choice and player decision.
Playing a combat-focused build in The Outer Worlds gives you an entirely different experience than a dialogue-driven playthrough. You can also murder or scorn everyone you meet in The Outer Worlds, and the game accounts for it in tangible, narrative ways. This makes The Outer Worlds a great sci-fi roleplaying experience, and I'm hopeful its sequel will be too. I'm not as hungry for a sci-fi RPG on such a potentially problematic large scale anymore when The Outer Worlds and its handcrafted worlds and narratives are so enjoyable moment-to-moment, just like classic Bethesda games. 
Where both games will boldly go
As far as sci-fi experiences go, Starfield can stand out from The Outer Worlds with its combat, base-building and shipbuilding, and space combat. But when it comes to the core tenets of Bethesda's best RPGs -- compelling characters, well-written narratives, and lots of reactive and choice-driven moments -- The Outer Worlds beat Starfield to the punch without any additional fat. I already have the Bethesda-like sci-fi experience I always wanted.

Read more
Microsoft confirms Xbox Live isn’t going anywhere anytime soon
Matte black Xbox Series X and controller on a black background.

Microsoft made an important change the other day to its service agreement, replacing mention of Xbox Live with Xbox online service. We reached out to the company regarding this change, and here's what one of its spokespersons had to say.

"The update to 'Xbox online service' in the Microsoft Services Agreement refers to the underlying Xbox service that includes features like cross-saves and friend requests. This language update is intended to distinguish that underlying service, and the paid Xbox Live Gold subscription. There are no changes being made to the experience of the service or Xbox Live Gold."

Read more