Helldivers 2 has been on a rollercoaster of controversy since launch, but this week it finally caught a break. On the 3rd, the team successfully trimmed the PC install size by over 131GB, pushing the game back up to 2nd place in the global top sellers list—a rare win for a title that usually sees its review scores swinging wildly with every patch.

The optimization wasn't just a minor trim; they confirmed via testing that removing redundant data wouldn't leave HDD users stuck in loading hell. By slashing the file size by roughly 85%, they managed to boost both load times and frame stability. It seems the collaboration with Nixxes Studio—the legends behind the PC ports for the Tomb Raider reboot trilogy and the Marvel's Spider-Man series—really paid off.

Following the buzz from the 5.0.0 update on the 2nd, this performance patch has been a siren call for returning players. Sales are up, and the concurrent player count is climbing, too. While the daily figure used to hover around 25,000, we’ve seen it spike to a solid 60,000-player average over the weekend.

Still, it isn't all sunshine and rainbows. While the influx of players and smoother performance are great, a vocal segment of the community is still venting about persistent, game-breaking launch errors that remain unpatched.

Elsewhere on the charts, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 climbed to 3rd place thanks to a 20% discount, while Total War: Warhammer 3 snagged 4th following a 75% off sale alongside its new expansion. Meanwhile, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree saw a significant dip as the post-DLC hype continues to fade.