The long-teased massive content update for Helldivers 2 arrived on the 2nd, perfectly timed with the launch of the new Warbond. As players descended into subterranean depths to purge bugs, both the sales charts and Concurrent Players saw a noticeable bump—though, predictably, the groans regarding optimization grew just as loud.

The 01.004.000 patch, deployed on the 2nd, introduced the Hive Worlds. Players are now tasked with venturing into caves to halt the spread of infectious Gloom and extract resources, all while contending with four new enemy types: Rupture Spewers, Rupture Warriors, Rupture Chargers, and Dragonroaches. A word of caution: when deep underground, Stratagem support is strictly limited to locations where you can see through holes in the cave ceiling. Following this update, the game soared to the number one spot globally, with peak Concurrent Players climbing to 178,795.

While the addition of new regions and foes has been welcomed by many, the chorus of criticism regarding worsening optimization with every update continues to grow. It is not as if these issues were non-existent before, but players are reporting that things have taken a turn for the worse this time around, with some users on high-end hardware reporting frame rates dipping below 50 FPS on settings beyond Ultra.

To make matters worse, there is grumbling over the PC version’s install size, which has ballooned past 140GB—dwarfing most other AAA titles. It is a particularly bitter pill to swallow when you consider the PS5 version sits at a mere 30GB, a fourfold difference. Between the stuttering performance and frequent crashes that send players back to the desktop, the mood has soured. Consequently, user sentiment has slipped to 'Mixed' (based on 1,371 reviews, with 66% positive).

Elsewhere on the charts, Red Dead Redemption 2 continues to hold its position near the top, buoyed by a persistent 75% discount. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 has also climbed the ranks to secure 7th place.

Looking at the top 20 peak Concurrent Players, Path of Exile 2 saw a significant shift, dropping by over 60,000 players to reach 270,101—a notable decline despite a still-healthy player base. Meanwhile, Hollow Knight, which had been riding a wave of momentum ahead of its sequel's launch, landed in 18th place with 69,403 players.