In an interview, the head behind Helldivers 2 talked about the future that the team at Arrowhead Games desires and how they plan to deal with potential challenges.
The shooter Helldivers 2, developed by Arrowhead Games, quickly became a real hit among players after its release. However, for the developers, this is only the beginning. Instead, they are looking towards a future filled with big plans and goals.
To be intensively involved in this future, on May 22, 2024, CEO Johan Pilestedt stepped down from his position and now works as CCO (Chief Creative Officer) to collaborate more actively with the team. Shams Jorjani was appointed as the new CEO.
What does Arrowhead envision for the future? In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Pilestedt spoke about the future of Arrowhead Games. He not only drew comparisons to two well-known film characters, but also to two major development studios.
“We want to become the next FromSoftware or Blizzard,” Pilestedt confidently states in his interview. Their goal is to develop into a showcase studio that “makes truly great cooperative games.”
How do they plan to face the challenges? Such a goal is unlikely to be achieved without various challenges. Here, Pilestedt drew a comparison to the popular fantasy franchise The Lord of the Rings. When they think of the future challenges, they feel exactly like two well-known characters.
“When we consider the challenges ahead of us, we feel like Frodo and Sam marching to Mordor. The indifferent approach is: ‘We take it one step at a time and solve problems as they arise’,” according to Pilestedt describing the team’s mindset.
In this context, he also emphasizes the team spirit of the studio and explains that the strength of Arrowhead Games lies in the community and the shared desire to help one another. The team can rely on being there for each other, no matter what they are going through. This way, they can face any challenge and emerge strengthened.
After these words, one might really believe that they form a harmonious unit, just like the beloved heroes from The Lord of the Rings.
“So we have seen and gone through this before”
In the interview, Pilestedt is also addressed regarding the live service and balancing issues of Helldivers 2. He recalls the “rough launch” of Magicka, another game from Arrowhead Games. At that time, the studio managed to turn the crisis around through community interaction and transparency.
This approach seems to be what the studio wants to apply to Helldivers 2 as well, as Pilestedt reflects:
“Shams and I recognized that we had to engage with the community, talk honestly with them, and tell them as much as we could about what was going on. And then immediately take action to solve the problems. So we have seen and gone through this before, albeit on a much smaller scale. This time, more is at stake.”
This year, a free game is being released on Steam that fans of Helldivers 2 should keep an eye on: A new survival game is a mix of Valheim and Helldivers 2 – and you can play it for free.
