Helldivers 2 surged on Xbox at launch — before PlayStation’s larger install base drove stronger long-term sales for its breakout hit

It’s long been rumored, or at least widely spun, that Xbox users do not buy games. This narrative is often tied to Xbox Game Pass, Xbox’s leading subscription service that functions much like Netflix for gamers.

The data, however, does not fully support that claim. Xbox players do buy games in large numbers, particularly shooters, and comparing those sales to PlayStation often paints a more nuanced picture. Helldivers 2 offers an interesting insight. It is PlayStation’s first true multiplayer breakout hit, dropping players into a cooperative PvE experience built around fighting alien swarms in the name of democracy.

Thanks to new estimates from Alinea Analytics, we now have a clearer look at how Helldivers 2 has performed on both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles. With that data in hand, it is worth taking a closer look at what the sales trends actually show.

How Helldivers 2 launched across consoles

The Xbox release arrived roughly 18 months after the PlayStation launch. That delay, combined with the Halo ODST crossover, likely created pent-up demand when the game finally landed on Xbox.

That demand translated into a strong week one showing. Sales accelerated quickly, pushing close to the one million mark within days of launch.

When comparing the first week's performance directly, Xbox clearly led in early sales. Alinea Analytics estimates show Xbox nearing 926K copies sold in its first week, compared to around 719K for PlayStation during its own launch window.

Helldivers 2 has sold 20M copies and made $700M+ in revenues. WILD. Our estimates also show that over 250K gamers have played Helldivers 2 for over 500 hours. Super Earth is in dedicated hands. Big deep dive: alineaanalytics.substack.com/p/helldivers...

— @superhys.bsky.social (@superhys.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-01-30T12:43:28.438Z

PlayStation’s larger install base did not immediately translate into faster early sales. A significant portion of that audience tends to buy later rather than at launch, particularly for multiplayer-focused titles.

Around day 8, however, PlayStation overtook Xbox in cumulative sales and continued to widen the gap from there

Strong launch momentum for Xbox

Alinea’s wider estimates put Helldivers 2 at over 20 million copies sold across all platforms, with the Xbox version contributing around 1.6 million units despite launching much later.

If we put this into context, 1.6 million is actually quite impressive compared to PlayStation's 4.3 million units. Xbox reached it in around five or so months with a much smaller install base than PlayStation, and priced at just $39.99 in the U.S.

I’ve long felt that Helldivers 2’s Xbox release functioned as a test for Sony. Knowing that the push for the port came from Sony rather than Arrowhead only reinforces that view.

It makes it easier to believe that more PlayStation releases could follow on Xbox, particularly shooters. If that holds true, especially for shooters, and who knows, maybe the Xbox release of Marathon could also usher in more Xbox support from Sony in the future.

Would you like to see more PlayStation published games arrive on Xbox in the future? Let us know in the comments and take part in our poll below:

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