by Helldivers 2 players were dissatisfied with the launch of the latest Update “Escalation of Freedom”and developer Arrowhead Studios says it wants to fix that.
The studio posted a statement on the matter on its Reddit page, outlining a 60-day plan to regain player trust and regain lost ground. In this message, Arrowhead acknowledges player frustration and promises to focus on “action. Not talk” regarding the future of Helldivers 2.
“We’ve spent the last week listening to feedback and thinking about the path forward for Helldivers 2 and how we want to develop the game,” said Game Director Mikael Eriksson. “In short, we didn’t achieve our goal with the last update. There were some things we just didn’t get right – and other more fundamental inconsistencies in our approach to game balance and direction. All of that is on us and we will own up to it.”
The anger of Helldivers 2 fans stems from a number of gameplay tweaks and additions that have been released since its launch in February. Many of these are angry about the recent weapon nerfsarguing that Arrowhead’s balance tweaks sacrifice fun in favor of an overall more balanced experience. It’s a discussion that has divided the community, as there are quite a few others who prefer the feeling of barely leaving a mission alive.
Regardless, Arrowhead sees the need to intervene. Eriksson promises to review how the team approaches balance in Helldivers 2 within the next 60 days. That means changes to how fire damage and ragdoll play works in a way that doesn’t impact the experience as much. Arrowhead also wants to prioritize bugs that directly impact gameplay while improving framerate in Helldivers 2. Another change promised in the first 60 days is a rework of the relentless Chargers, although no details on that have been announced.
“Our intention is that balance should be fun and not ‘balanced’ for the sake of balance,” the outline states.
Arrowhead’s big outline includes some long-term bullet points to ensure Helldivers 2 stays in the game for a long time to come. These include the primary goal of setting up an opt-in beta testing environment and releasing regular player surveys to streamline communication between fans and developers. More blog posts and more detailed patch notes will follow along with this.
“We also want to thank you for your patience,” Eriksson continued. “We are grateful that so many of you have provided constructive feedback and suggestions on the latest update.”
Helldivers 2 launched earlier this year with unexpected success and even managed The fastest-selling PlayStation game of all time with 12 million copies sold in 12 weeks on PC and PlayStation 5. With its success came a long list of changes, with one major change being John Pilestedt moves from CEO to CCO to focus more on the studio’s games and community. Its new CEO, Shams Jorjani, later commented on the success of Helldivers 2, admitting that the team “knew it would be impossible to keep up with the demand and insatiable hunger for more fun in/with HD2.”
Helldivers 2 is working its way through a weak phase after a strong first few months. We called it “amazing” in our 9/10 Ratingand says: “The combat in Helldivers 2 feels fantastic, the missions remain fresh and interesting, and the clever progression system keeps you busy.”
