Helldivers 2's Vicious Tug of War
How a fantastic game was a target of gross incompetency
Helldivers 2 is one of the few roaring successes that came out in early 2024. The gameplay loop is addictive, the lore is hilarious, and the Earth is absolutely super!
For those who don’t know, Helldivers 2 essentially is a video game version of “Starship Troopers.” It features a legion of soldiers called “Helldivers”, who are glorified by the propaganda arm of the united Super Earth, as expendable meat bags to accomplish dangerous tasks amidst the many threats of humanity. With up to four players, you can deploy on a wide variety of planets to combat the massive insects called “terminids,” a powerful legion of robotic soldiers called "automotons" a , or the newly released “llluminate,” an intelligent alien race who’ve turned humans into “voteless” puppets.
The game launched with roaring success. However, it’s journey to remain on top was met with waves of incompetency. Yet, these nefarious seas were masterfully navigated by Arrowhead Studios. In this article, we will explore this tug of war against the “undemocratic” forces that tried to topple this game.
Gameplay over Polish
It was no secret Helldivers 2 came with a lot of bugs (and not just the terminid kind.) In spite of some of the janky mechanics of the game, the developers focused on the gameplay and the fun. Some of the glitches that occur in the game, in fact, increase the hilarity and amusement, like when a dead bile titan launches the player a thousand feet into the air.
But the core of the joy lied in the players facing what felt like “impossible odds.” Swarms of terminids and armies of robots should be impossible for a small group of normal humans to conquer, but somehow the Helldivers are always able to find a way to accomplish their missions.
Doing so required no special powers, abilities, or super human strength. Instead, they relied solely on the arsenal made available. With a wide variety of gut-punching guns (designed and animated with an extreme level of detail,) to the multitude of strategems, Helldivers have an impressive toolset to accomplish their missions, and conquer the enemies of Super Earth.
Balance vs Fun
One of the first controversies that came from Helldivers 2 was a conflicting design philosophy. At first, fun was at the core of the game, which is what attracted players to it. However, some months after the release, the developers, with good intention, felt there was a lot of imbalance with some of the weapons, and the game was “too easy.” They nerfed many of the weapons deemed too overpowered, and tried to compel gamers into grouping more by making it nearly unplayable for solo players. Many guns and tools players used felt too weak for a time, and fan-favorite weapons were sadly thrown in the trash.
The developers heard the cries of the player base and turned course. After years of disappointment from other gaming studios, this was certainly a refreshing moment in gaming history. After the CEO stepped down to take on a creative lead role, the shift in management drastically helped the game. They not only returned the once powerful weapons back to their former glory, they’ve improved and buffed a bunch of other weapons for players to regain a new level of interest in.
Sony’s Greed
This wasn’t the first blow. Helldivers 2 suffered another, this time not by Arrowhead studios. Sony tried to capitalize on the success of the game and got involved in an attempt to force players to sign up for their services. This would have been mandatory to continue playing the game. This came after a recent hack that exposed personal information of Sony’s customer base. No only was security a core issue, but many players from across the world suddenly became region locked from being able to play the game they already paid for.
With these concerns, as well as the annoyance of having to create yet another account on another DRM (digital retail management) service, players began a boycott campaign and sundered the reviews of Helldivers 2. A “review bombing” campaign began, and the game quickly became flooded by negative reviews on Steam. Certainly the “games journalists” tried to lash out at the discontent players while choosing to remain ignorant to the plight they faced, and foolishly defending the bureaucratic policies of Sony with the taste of their leather boots in their mouths. Ironically this only added fuel to the players frustration.
Redemption
Soon after all the backlash, Sony backed off after they saw the damage they’ve caused and stopped the mandatory Sony account migration. While we don’t know the full extent of what went on inside Arrowhead Studios, many speculate they lead the charge against Sony into reversing this decision. Nonetheless, players became satisfied once more, and all the reviews were promptly revised to be positive once again. The developers even teased on releasing a new cape to celebrate (sadly this has never been released, likely due to upper management decisions.)
Quickly Learning
Helldivers 2 has recovered from a lot of poor decisions, both by developers and by Sony. While they aren’t perfect, they are eager to change course for the sake of the player base. With the previous examples listed, it shows the importance of a business being capable to change course quickly before they suffer irreparable damage. Like how sailors have to quickly reorient their ships if they go off course.
A more recent example is with the “Killzone” DLC. The players cried about how overly expensive the DLC was for the new weapons, and saddened how new weapons that impact the gameplay have become locked behind a steep paywall. While the DLC called “Warbonds” require Super Credits, these can be attained with a reasonable amount of gameplay with no time limit. With the new DLC however, this paywall was antithetical to Helldivers 2 when it first launched, as it was a limited time run in the in-game store. Naturally, players felt peeved, and grew concerned about whether they’ll be able to farm the Super Credits in time if they chose not to front the money.
Correction and Overcorrection
The developers agreed, and decided to bring the remaining planned weapons for free to everyone! On one hand, it’s wonderful that developers care so much about their player base and are willing and eager to make things right if they messed up. On the other hand, I do have concern over the feelings of the developers, and whether they have a sense of ‘bullying’ by the player base. Correcting this mistake was essential, sure, but I fear releasing all the DLC weapons for free could be perceived as overcompensation. Just like, in our previous example, how a ship needs to be steered to course correct, there is also the threat of overcorrection. While players generally know what’s best for the game they want to experience, the customers are not always right. A playable character in a competitive game could be perceived as overpowered, when in reality players have yet to implement available tools to counter it.
The key point is to ensure a healthy relationship between the developers and the player base. Like how players should not be bullied by “journalists” or by publishers, the developers should not be afraid of their player base if they make a mistake. As Arrowhead Studios has proven, they are willing, eager, and passionate to provide a wonderful gaming experience for the fans of Helldivers 2.
Meritocracy in Demand
Former CEO, Johan Pilestedt, on X commented about DEI. Instead of trying to focus on the deceptive morality of “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” he instead calls for developers to focus on making enjoyable games.
We’ve seen countless examples in 2024 alone about how these studios failed to adhere to the basic principles of quality control, like Concord and Dragon Age: Veilguard. Instead of creating likeable characters that are easy on the eyes, these examples instead use their creative powers to make character design as ugly and uncomfortable as possible, both visually and story wise. We even see the plague of DEI afflict other industries, forfeiting quality control just for the sake of hiring people based on their gender and their race.
If more businesses learned from Arrowhead’s failures and successes, then American companies can certainly do great things to make American industry great again.