Helldivers 2 devs hike max player cap to make wait times ‘much more bearable’

Democracy's army grows.

A trio of jet planes fly over a Helldiver in Helldivers 2.
Image via Arrowhead Studios

As hundreds upon thousands of Helldivers 2 players stared at black screens and login errors, Arrowhead Studios worked tirelessly to allow more saviors of democracy to play. Their efforts have today borne fruit—the shooter’s currently-squeezed player cap has increased and will likely keep growing from now.

Recommended Videos

Arrowhead boss Johan Pilestedt revealed on Twitter late on Feb. 22 that the Helldivers 2 devs have been working non-stop on quick solutions to the capped server problem. The capped count has now been upped from 450,000 to 700,000, which is a meteoric rise for a game that continues to butt against the dev-imposed server’s limits.

Helldiver putting on his helmet in Helldivers 2 opening PSA
If you missed your chance to play last weekend, get ready to suit up. Screenshot by Dot Esports

This change should decrease the number of black screens and login errors that players run into when trying to play the game, Pilestedt added, which will be much-welcomed news for the thousands of gamers who have been attempting to play.

It’s a huge victory for defenders of liberty everywhere, including for the no doubt tired team at Arrowhead—Pilestedt’s last tweet was posted at 4am CET and it came after hours of communication from the studio CEO. Many of those earlier tweets have since been deleted by the CEO to “avoid any confusion” for players just catching up.

Despite this win, however, the woes have not quite ended yet; Pilestedt has also admitted that Arrowhead plans to do “final improvements” for the weekend and even warned that the Helldivers 2 playerbase will likely hit the new 700,000 cap sometime soon. This isn’t all that surprising, considering Helldivers 2 has quickly proven very popular and has been consistently hitting server limits time and time again since its release.

The response to the raised cap—and Patch 1.000.11‘s AFK timer—has been overwhelmingly positive, with many players wishing the Helldivers 2 devs a good rest for their hard work.

Author
Image of Jason Toro-McCue
Jason Toro-McCue
Contributing writer and member of the RPG beat. Professional writer of five years for sites and apps, including Nerds + Scoundrels and BigBrain. D&D and TTRPG fanatic, perpetual Fighter main in every game he plays.