Arrowhead Studios CEO Says Helldivers 2 is "Failing to Deliver"

The collaboration between Sony and Arrowhead Game Studios has sparked controversy. While the Japanese publisher played a significant role in elevating Helldivers 2 to unexpected heights, some decisions have also contributed to the game's decline. However, Arrowhead views the partnership positively, attributing much of the responsibility for the game's challenges to themselves.

In a recent discussion on the official Helldivers 2 Discord server, Arrowhead Game Studios' CEO, Shams Jorjani, addressed concerns surrounding the recent blog post outlining the 60-day roadmap. Among the questions raised, one key issue was the Escalation of Freedom update, which sparked backlash leading to the roadmap announcement.

Jorjani acknowledged that “Escalation of Freedom was a bit underwhelming, and the flamethrower overshadowed much of the good content." This led them to admit that “the marketing for the update might have been overhyped, given it wasn’t a massive content drop,” though Jorjani emphasized that “90% of the update was good.” In defense of Sony, Jorjani added, “Sony did their job. It was us who didn’t deliver enough.”

Both companies have faced criticism regarding Helldivers 2. Earlier this year, Sony was criticized for requiring players to link a PSN account, which resulted in players from 180 countries being unable to purchase the game due to unavailable services in those regions. This led to over 154,000 negative reviews. Arrowhead has also faced backlash for its approach to updates, particularly reactionary nerfs based on weapon popularity, which has driven some players away from the game.

Whether Arrowhead Game Studios can recover remains to be seen, but players won’t have to wait long. The first update from the 60-day roadmap is scheduled for release on September 17th, with Jorjani teasing that the patch notes will span "6-8 pages," signaling significant changes—hopefully for the better.