Helldivers 2 now PlayStation’s fastest-selling game ever

The hugely-popular Helldivers 2 has sold 12m copies on PC and PlayStation 5, enough to become Sony’s fastest-selling PlayStation game of all time.

Thanks in large part to its wild success on Steam, the PlayStation-published breakout hit shifted around 1m more than the previous record holder, 2022’s God of War Ragnarök.

Sony confirmed the sales record today in its just-published financial results, which also revealed a new running total for PS5 console sales: 59.3m, meaning the hardware stands roughly equivalent to where PS4 was at the same point in its lifecycle.

That 59.3m includes an impressive 20.8m PS5 consoles sold in the past 12 months alone, up 1.7m on the amount it sold in the year prior, although Sony had expected to shift even more – originally it had forecast yearly sales of 25m.

Looking ahead, Sony said it would sell fewer consoles in the current financial year (18m in the 12 months ending March 31, 2025) which currently looks to be quiet for first-party PlayStation game launches. We are expecting the souped-up PS5 Pro console variant at some point nearer Christmas, however.

Brighter points in Sony’s financial results included software game sales being up year-on-year (77 percent of sales are now digital) and a boost to PlayStation Network monthly active users (118 million, up 10 million year-on-year).

Once again, Sony did not disclose PlayStation Plus subscriber numbers, however.

Sony today confirmed its permanent replacements for now-departed former PlayStation boss Jim Ryan. Two men will now share the CEO role, with PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst focused on game development and Hideaki Nishino overseeing PlayStation hardware. Both will report into PlayStation chairman Hiroki Totoki, who has been overseeing the business since Ryan’s departure.

The outgoing Ryan left PlayStation in March after nearly 30 years at Sony. His era ended with job losses amounting to some 900 staff leaving the business, and the closure of Sony’s London Studio.