Helldivers 2 Releases New Paid Warbond

Gamers take a lot of unique and interesting names at face value, but there’s always an insightful origin story to be told. We spoke with Arrowhead Game Studios CEO Johan Pilestedt about how the name of the studio and Helldivers franchise came to be. Read on to learn how a translated last name, WWII airplane, and tongue-in-cheek humor played into these titles.

When they’re not banding together to take on Sony or attempting to reinstate fired community managers, it turns out that Helldivers 2 players just want to make sure everyone feels included. Included in the co-op game’s endless war of attrition to protect Super Earth from bugs, robots, and basic awareness of military propaganda, and included in just having mates. Enter player ‘dremskiy’, whose tragic booting from a private game in which they just wanted to make friends has resulted in so many friend requests that their Steam account won’t accept any more.

It's only been out three months, but Sony has revealed that everyone's favorite extraction shooter has become the fastest-selling PlayStation game ever.

It can be difficult for developers to maintain live service titles these days, with fans expecting more and more content each month to avoid the risk of being labeled a "dead game." Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has been treading that particular tightrope rather well since launch, delivering new armor, weapons, and emotes via the Premium Warbonds system that has been serving them well up until now.

Helldivers 2 has kicked off its newest Premium Warbond. Titled Polar Patriots, the new Warbond brings with it a host of new weapons, armours, boosters, and cosmetics. Interestingly, the Polar Patriots Warbond was released after Arrowhead Game Studios CEO Johann Pilestedt asked the game’s community whether it should be released rather than delayed.

Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has released the Polar Patriots Premium Warbond as planned after the boss of the studio polled fans on whether it should go ahead so soon after what he called “negative sentiment” over the game’s PlayStation Network account linking.

Helldivers 2 Director Johan Pilestedt wants gamers to decide when the next paid Warbond will arrive. Helldivers 2 has been the source of heated discussion in recent weeks, as it is at the center of Sony's controversial decision to have PC players link their accounts to the PlayStation Network. The wave of negative reception surrounding recent Helldivers 2 news has been a shock to many gamers because of just how popular Helldivers 2 has become in such a short time. Releasing in February 2024, Helldivers 2 is now Sony's 7th highest grossing game of all time.

Fans of Helldivers 2 have started a petition asking developers Arrowhead to reinstate a fired employee in charge of community management. The employee, "Spitz", was let go following the fiasco in which Sony told PC players they would need to link their Steam and PlayStation Network accounts to continue playing the shooter. Sony and Arrowhead changed their mind about that after player backlash in the form of 100,000+ negative reviews on Steam. The kicker? Community manager "Spitz" was low-key encouraging players to continue the review bombing. This doesn't seem to have gone down well internally.

Iron Gate Studio has rolled out update v0.218.14 for Valheim's public test build, encompassing tweaks to building pieces, food recipes, enemy spawning mechanics, and more. Additionally, this Valheim update is packed with a plethora of fixes and improvements across various aspects of the game.

Helldivers 2 developers are reportedly working on a new cape inspired by the account-linking controversy. While the community can breathe a sigh of relief knowing the worst of the fiasco has passed, some fans have additionally taken to sharing designs for costume accessories inspired by Helldivers 2's Steam page. Some of these designs even managed to reach the offices of developer Arrowhead Game Studios and, if one executive is to be believed, will soon hit live servers as an official cosmetic.

Arrowhead Game Studios has rolled out Helldivers 2 patch 1.000.302, focusing on key areas like damage-over-time effects issues, weapon and enemy balancing, social menu issues, and more. This update also introduces a range of fixes to enhance the overall gaming experience for Helldivers 2 players.

Helldivers 2’s first patch since the PSN login debacle is out now, making some much-needed fixes to the game.