Helldivers 2 director Johan Pilestedt has commented on the "incredible" impact the squad-based shooter has seemingly had on the viewership of the 1997 sci-fi action film Starship Troopers.
Pilestedt shared a post on X/Twitter showing that Starship Troopers rose through the ranks from 109 to 45 as the "most popular movie online" (ranked by engagement score) as of February 17. The statistics provided are courtesy of Television Stats, a website that tracks data and shares performance metrics for various titles.
This is incredible! https://t.co/UmreTNdMhj
— Pilestedt (@Pilestedt) February 19, 2024
Helldivers 2 became available on PlayStation 5 and PC on February 8 and quickly surpassed God of War to become Sony's biggest ever game launch on Steam. It also immediately drew comparisons to Starship Troopers, the 1959 novel of the same name and 1997 Paul Verhoeven film adaptation, for its patriotic pageantry and alien bugs.
As a result, Helldivers 2 and Starship Troopers have been hot topics on social media over the past week or so, with many finding Starship Troopers again (or even for the first time) and giving credit to Helldivers 2 for reigniting the discourse around the movie, causing both titles to feature in the trending lists on X/Twitter.
Starship Troopers and Helldivers 2 both trending at the same time.
😁👌 pic.twitter.com/gbjXYSCUM4— FF ADDICT (@Dasmesee1) February 17, 2024
Watching Starship Troopers tonight in honor of Helldivers 2.
I highly recommend the 4k UHD, it looks great! pic.twitter.com/aln7UZn0EU
— gameboyTV (@gameboyTTV) February 19, 2024
I am seeing a lot of love for Starship Troopers lately. I love it. Should probably thank Helldivers 2 for that xD pic.twitter.com/5XBIJGGlhc
— Raion (Cheap Comms open! 1/3 slots!) (@MattWilliamson9) February 19, 2024
This starship troopers discourse is wild and I’ve been enjoying Helldivers (when I can actually get a game) so I rebought the film and watched it this afternoon.
Man it holds up, the sets and cgi blows so much of todays movies out of the water. pic.twitter.com/RLMrpyu1uY
— Marius Gage (@ForMacragge) February 17, 2024
Always love seeing a STARSHIP TROOPERS ressurgence in my timeline ;p
thank you, Helldivers. I love the art style of the game from what I've seen pic.twitter.com/pj9nJR04tT
— Mike 🌴🌊 (@MikearoniGrill) February 10, 2024
The success of Helldivers 2 might give us a new Starship Troopers movie! pic.twitter.com/LCrhX3nvOR
— Dennis N (@DennisN) February 15, 2024
I love the fact that Helldivers 2 has lit up my timeline with a bunch of Starship Troopers references 😭🙌 pic.twitter.com/4Nb8gNBk4M
— Brandon 🍜 (@daxbornn) February 17, 2024
Verhoeven's adaptation of Robert Heinlein's jingoistic outer space war epic faced critical backlash upon its release in 1997, but the underrated flick gained a cult following in the years that followed as audiences came to realise it was much more than a cool action movie about space marines fighting space insects.
It seems like a lot of people are opting to watch Starship Troopers during their downtime from Helldivers 2, as players are struggling to get online to play the game due to servers being at capacity (and some players refusing to log out). The developers have asserted they are working around the clock to solve these problems.
In our Helldivers 2 review, we said its "combat feels fantastic, its missions stay fresh and interesting, and its smart progression system doesn't nickel and dime you."
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on X/Twitter @AdeleAnkers.
