Helldivers 2 Drops To "Mixed" Steam Reviews Amidst Server Issues

thegamer.com:

Helldivers 2 is a huge success, beating Grand Theft Auto 5's all-time peak player count on Steam and holding the number one spot on the PlayStation store, dethroning Call of Duty and Fortnite.

However, such success brings problems. The game wasn't designed with half a million players in mind, and so the servers hit capacity incredibly fast, leading to lengthy login times and progression issues. As a result, the Steam review score is starting to drop.

As of today, its aggregate rating on Steam is "Mixed" with an average score of six out of ten, with many players citing the login problems as the reason for their negative reviews. Due to its always online nature, you can't even queue solo when the servers are having problems, so for many, there's no way to play right now.

"This game is amazing, but as of right now, do not buy," one player wrote, a sentiment shared by Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt himself. "You are either met with the black screen on startup, reaching the server capacity screen, or not even being able to matchmake once in the game. The positive reviews are all spot on, but the servers right now will stop you from enjoying the game fully."

"Until servers are fixed I can't recommend this game to anyone," another said. "I've spent at least six hours in queue trying to play."

Positive reviews at capacity, please try again later.

"40 bucks to stare at a black screen," one comment reads. "Right now, this game is about as fun as staying on hold with an internet service provider," another player added.

Arrowhead is aware of the problem and has said that expanding the servers is the number one priority. However, Pilestedt says the solution is not as simple as buying more capacity; "It's a matter of labour," he tweeted. "We need to optimise the backend code. We are hitting some real limits."

I am completely exhausted by the success. So is the team. Many, many late nights, on-calls, emergency meetings, discussions around server capacity, shards, capacity units,