Johan Pilestedt

After what has probably felt like the longest week ever for Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Game Studios, we saw the release of the Polar Patriots Warbond. Unfortunately for Arrowhead, that's brought forth a wave of entirely different problems, as satisfaction with this month's Warbond is at an all-time low.

The CEO of Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Game Studios, Johan Pilestedt, has said that he wants the game to go on "forever", even when the team eventually stops working on new updates.

A new Helldivers 2 patch is here and will hopefully put the whole PlayStation Network account linking debacle to bed once and for all, as it's now been added as an explicitly "optional" setting.

Helldivers 2 sold over 12 million copies in its first 12 weeks on sale, making it PlayStation’s fastest-selling game of all time, Sony has announced.

The sensational success of Helldivers 2 has led to 12 million copies sold in 12 weeks, making it the new fastest-selling game launched by PlayStation, and surpassing God of War Ragnarok’s 11 million sales over the same period.

Helldivers 2 lead Johan Pilestedt has given us our first look at an upcoming cape - one which references the most controversial moment in the game's short history. As we can see in the screenshot, the red lines on the cape mirror the review bombing Helldivers 2 received on Steam last week, as thousands of players hit the game with negative ratings.

With the PSN account-linking crisis resolved for Arrowhead Game Studios’ Helldivers 2, players have returned to concerns about balance. It follows last month’s big update, which adjusted weapons, Stratagems and much more, but has been an ongoing conversation since the Railgun’s nerf.

Helldivers 2 is still being removed from sale on Steam in more countries, even after publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) scrapped its hugely controversial PSN mandate. 

Get to the chopp- I mean, get to the pelican, divers. Arrowhead Studios' CEO Johan Pilestedt has teased that another alien species, or potentially an entire enemy faction, is plotting its revenge against Helldivers 2 players.

Johan Pilestedt, Helldivers 2's creative director and Arrowhead Game Studios CEO, thinks that the development team may have «gone too far» with balance updates.

Helldivers 2 director Johan Pilestedt agrees with fans that game balance updates have occasionally gone too far. Helldivers 2 is one of Sony's most popular games right now, and the new Polar Patriots Warbond is out. Because of the game's popularity and recent negative reception to updates, Arrowhead Game Studios' responses to feedback and PlayStation's approach to PC gaming fans have been the topic of frequent discussion.

Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has just about recovered from a disastrous weekend of controversy, following Sony's decision to make linking a PSN account to Steam to play the game mandatory. Among all the negative reviews, backlash, and apologies, Sony made the strange decision to delist Helldivers 2 from over 150 different countries in which the PlayStation Network isn't supported, though we're still not quite sure for what reason.

Since Helldivers 2 was released just over three months ago, development team Arrowhead Game Studios has frequently rebalanced the game's meta, frustrating quite a few players who have grown comfortable with weapons only to have them nerfed in the next patch. Now, it looks like those complaints might lead to a change - or, at the very least, a discussion at Arrowhead.

Arrowhead Games Studio CEO and Helldivers 2 director Johan Pilestedt has confirmed that he is working on getting the game relisted on Steam in the certain regions it was recently removed from. This news comes after the controversy about requiring PC players to link PlayStation Network accounts to continue playing Helldivers 2.

I spent this morning being pseudo-profound about Animal Well and pseudo-elegaic about Tango Gameworks, so now it's time to get back to the Real Business - being a pseud on the subject of videogame gun balancing.

Developer Arrowhead Game Studios has launched Helldivers 2’s Polar Patriots Premium Warbond, introducing a range of new weapons, utilities, armor, and capes for players to experience. This release arrives amid recent controversies regarding Helldivers 2’s PlayStation Network account linking, prompting the Arrowhead Game Studios boss to let players decide when the new Warbond would impact the game.

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.

Helldivers 2 players started a petition calling on developer Arrowhead Game Studios to rehire community manager Spitz. With the recent PlayStation Network account-linking controversy finally at an end, much of the Helldivers 2 community has begun to shift focus back to the Galactic War. However, some fans were still dismayed upon hearing of the recent dismissal of Spitz from the official Discord channel and are doing all they can to gather their fellow players in support of the former community manager.

In the last five days, Helldivers 2 was removed from the PC market in 177 countries and the game’s Steam reviews collapsed under the weight of more than 200,000 negative ratings, dropping from Positive to Mixed. It’s now Tuesday and the Helldivers 2 Steam page is overrun with people ranting against Sony and celebrating democracy, and for anyone taking their first glance at the game, it’s all a bit confusing.

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.

Helldivers 2 patch 01.000.032 has been deployed across PC and PS5, finally fixing damage-over-time (DoTS) effects.

After the recent fiasco surrounding and Sony's attempt to make PSN account linking on Steam mandatory, the game's community is campaigning to commemorate its victory with a special cape. After days of backlash following the announcement that players on PC would need to create a PlayStation Network account to keep playing, users showed their dissatisfaction by «reviewing bombing» the game's Steam page with hundreds of thousands of negative reviews. The tactic proved effective, forcing Sony to walk back its decision while accidentally creating what could be a very cool cosmetic.

After Sony U-turned on its controversial decision to force Helldivers 2 PC gamers to account link to PlayStation Network, the game’s community has launched an initiative to drag Steam user reviews out from under rock bottom.

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

Helldivers 2 dropped to 'Mostly Negative' this weekend after announcing that players would have to link their PSN and Steam accounts to keep playing, making it so that the game couldn't be accessed in over 150 countries. This was partly spurred on by community manager Spitz, who mysteriously disappeared from the Discord server on Saturday.

It's a short week 'cos we all had a Bank Holiday yesterday, and Edwin isn't here today, which means I have donned some thick leather gloves and am standing well back to throw some sticky gobbets at The Maw. The gobbets in question? Some tasty game releases this week! Plus whatever else we think might be interesting enough in PC gaming news to appease it - and you.

Being a Helldivers 2 fan has been an absolute rollercoaster over this past weekend, with the game being the most loved live service game out there, to the most hated, and back again over the course of just a few days. Most of you will know that this was down to Sony's sudden implementation of its PSN account system, requiring Helldivers 2 players on Steam to sign up for the PlayStation Network if they want to continue playing.

Helldivers 2 announced over the weekend that players would soon have to link their Steam accounts to PSN to continue playing, a move that drew so much backlash that Sony completely walked back the announcement mere days later. However, it wasn't quick enough to stop a review bomb that tanked the game's overall score.

With the PSN account linking fiasco now in the rearview mirror, what was nearly a disaster moment for Helldivers 2 is now becoming a part of community lore. Fans have been busy working on cape designs since Sony reversed course, at least some of which have seemingly caught the eye of the development team.

It’s been a tumultuous few days for Helldivers 2, as one of this year’s most beloved runaway hits managed to seemingly undo all of its goodwill and earn the ire of thousands of players in the blink of an eye.

In the days since Sony Interactive Entertainment announced an unpopular Helldivers 2 and PlayStation linking policy, players have been flooding the game’s Steam page wil negative reviews. By Sunday, more than 200,000 of Helldivers 2’s 266,126 reviews on Steam were negative, filed in the aftermath of the disastrous announcement. But the review-bombing worked: Sony heard Helldivers 2 players and announced Monday that it’s no longer requiring Steam players to link a PlayStation Network account.

Sony has burned a bit of good will with the Helldivers 2 player base, as the company announced plans on Thursday that would require PC players of the game to link a PlayStation Network account to continue playing the title.

After creating a massive kerfuffle by forcing Helldivers 2 PC players to link their Steam accounts to the PlayStation Network, Sony is backing down. The May 6 update will no longer be released and, presumably, the game won't be removed from sale on Steam in 177 countries and territories as reported yesterday.

Amid the turmoil of the recent Helldivers 2 controversy, its predecessor Helldivers has also been review bombed by disappointed fans. The original's latest negative reviews criticize the account-linking requirement of Helldivers 2, which was eventually retracted by publisher Sony.

PlayStation has delivered a U-turn and scrapped its plans to require Helldivers 2 players on Steam to sign in with a PlayStation Network account.

Amidst widespread backlash, Sony has walked back on its decision to make PlayStation Network logins mandatory for Helldivers 2 on PC.

Helldivers 2 PC players galore as Sony has confirmed that it has canceled the upcoming mandatory Helldivers 2 PSN account linking update.

PlayStation has reversed course on the Helldivers 2 PSN account requirement, walking back the unpopular policy after a weekend long backlash that included tens of thousands of negative reviews, some of which spread to Sony's other Steam games.

Glory to Democracy! Sony's controversial decision to make Helldivers 2players on Steam link their accounts to PSN has been reversed. The decision was met with a lot of backlash from players, which seems to have pressured Sony to cancel the update.

Helldivers 2 has had a hell of a few days. Sony announced last week that going forward, PC players would need to link their Steam accounts with PlayStation Network in order to be able to play Arrowhead Game Studios’ mega hit, and the decision was met with instant, widespread backlash. Over the last three days, the co-op shooter has accumulated over 230,000 user reviews on Steam, with its Recent Reviews average plummeting to Overwhelmingly Negative. That has also been accompanied by many users getting refunds issued for their purchase of the game.

Things have taken a sour turn drastically and abruptly for Helldivers 2. Sony recently made PlayStation Network logins mandatory for Steam players, sparking significant backlash from the community, especially from those who live in the many, many countries where PlayStation Network simply isn’t available. Sony recently pulled the game off sale in all of those countries, but Helldivers 2 director and developer Arrowhead Game Studios’ CEO Johan Pilestedt says a more long-term solution is being worked on.

Arrowhead is currently in discussions with Sony over how to deal with the ongoing controversy surrounding the retroactive enforcement of the PSN account requirement for playing Helldivers 2 on PC, a senior company official has revealed. This community update also offered some additional insights into the ongoing Helldivers 2 drama.

Arrowhead's popular co-op shooter Helldivers 2 has been delisted from Steam in over 170 regions. This drastic step follows a controversial decision by publisher Sony, mandating Steam players to connect their accounts to a PlayStation Network (PSN) account before June 4 to continue playing Helldivers 2.

Helldivers 2's creative director and CEO of Arrowhead Game Studios, Johan Pilestedt, has revealed that he doesn't know what players affected by the game's removal from Steam can do next.

Earlier this week, Helldivers 2 players on PC were told that they'd soon need to link their Steam account to a PlayStation Network (PSN) account. Two days later and the game has received 100,000 new negative reviews on Steam.

Helldivers 2 players have expressed concerns that existing PlayStation Network account workarounds might lead to a permanent ban on their account. Arrowhead Game Studios' massively popular PvE shooter previously announced it would require players to link their Steam to a PSN account by the end of the month, which was met with overwhelming outrage by its community. Many Helldivers 2 players have since questioned how the developers plan on enforcing the rule, particularly for countries or regions that do not have access to PSN.

Following the news that Helldivers 2 on PC will soon require a PlayStation Network account to play, the community reacted by review bombing the Steam page. Whereas the game previously enjoyed a Very Positive aggregate user score, it has now dropped to Mixed for overall reviews and Mostly Negative for recent reviews. In the span of a few hours, over 57K negative reviews have been left for Helldivers 2 on Steam.

Helldivers 2 is about to actually start enforcing its previously stated requirement for players on Steam to sign in with a PlayStation account, and to put it mildly, the community isn't taking it well. After 20,000 negative reviews in less than 24 hours, the game's developers say they get why players are upset.

The developer of Helldivers 2 has apologised after fans barraged the game’s Steam page with negative reviews over news of a mandatory PlayStation Account requirement.

Johan Pilestedt has responded to review bombing of Helldivers 2. Helldivers 2 is one of the most popular releases of 2024. Fans have enjoyed the way the game iterates on the online multiplayer format with interesting objectives and challenging team-based gameplay. In the opinion of many gamers, Helldivers 2 excels in part because of developer Arrowhead Game Studios' attentiveness to player feedback.

Helldivers 2 has been one of 2024's most beloved titles ever since launch, proving that live service titles can be extremely popular if they're properly supported and fans are properly respected. Unfortunately, Arrowhead is now throwing a lot of that goodwill into the trash, as players recently found out that they'll need to sign up to a PlayStation Network and link it to Steam if they want to continue playing the game past June 4.

Helldivers 2 has enjoyed nothing but roaring success since its launch in February, though the last 24 hours have seen it on the receiving end of strong backlash. Sony recently announced that Helldivers 2 players on PC would have to link their Steam and PlayStation Network accounts to be able to play the game going forward, provoking strong criticism from the community. The game’s “Recent” user reviews rating on Steam – which takes into accounts user ratings for a game over the last 30 days – has fallen to “Mixed”, having received over 24,000 negative ratings on the platform just today.

Helldivers 2, February’s surprise multiplayer hit from Arrowhead Game Studios and Sony Interactive Entertainment, is now getting bombarded with negative reviews on Steam. That’s because the game will soon require all PC players to link their Steam account to a PlayStation Network account.

Helldivers 2's latest balance patch was full of changes for a load of different weapons, for better or worse. However, arguably the best change of all was given to the Senator revolver, and it doesn't make it any stronger – it just makes it significantly cooler.

Despite the massive, unexpected success of , the game's overwhelming popularity and fast-paced content release schedule might be turning into a double-edged sword. A sequel to the less-known developed by Arrowhead Games Studios, previously best known for their series, exploded in popularity shortly after its release, taking the industry — and the developers themselves — by surprise. Since then, the game has managed to maintain a large and active playerbase to participate in its ongoing galactic war, but some of the game's bigger issues might be falling by the wayside.

Responding to a fan, Arrowhead Game Studios community manager confirmed that increased Helldivers 2 squad sizes likely won't be coming anytime soon. Helldivers 2 has been a massive success for both Sony and Arrowhead Game Studios, more so than anyone though considering the amount of issues the game suffered from at launch due to overwhelming numbers of players attempting to sign in. However, even the initial troubles were not enough to dissuade players from playing and Helldivers 2 continued to rapidly grow alongside the dynamic galactic war constantly shifting and evolving.

Arrowhead has a steady line it needs to walk with Helldivers 2. The developer needs to ensure it both fixes any bugs (not Terminids, the glitchy kind) while also adding new featurs and content to the game in order to «stay relevant».

Now that’s what I call a bug hunt! It took Helldivers 2 players less than 24 hours to complete its latest Major Order: to kill two billion Terminids.

Arrowhead Game Studios CEO Johan Pilestedt believes that the studio will have to simultaneously add more content to Helldivers 2, while also fixing any issues that players might encounter in order for the game, to “stay relevant”. Responding to a thread on Reddit, Pilestedt talked about how the studio has been working towards this goal.

Helldivers 2 is an extremely popular game, far more than probably either Arrowhead or Sony hoped for. That said, it isn't perfect, and the developers are well aware of that.

Helldivers 2 players have completed another major order - and much faster than the developers intended. Tasked with killing two billion Terminids over the course of five days, players managed to wipe them out in less than a day, completing the event with ease.

Helldivers 2's creative director has responded to a fan-made pitch for some new objectives that could be added to the popular third-person shooter, and it turns out that developer Arrowhead already tried out a very similar idea years ago.

We doubt we were alone in wondering whether some kind of transmogrification system could reach fashion-conscious Helldivers 2 players grasping hands, but sadly, that won't be the case. Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt put this particular pipe dream to bed, definitively stating, «We are not doing transmog.»

Helldivers 2 director Johan Pilestedt believes his team needs to focus on both developing new content and fixing bugs to stay relevant in the video game market. Since the release of Arrowhead Game Studios' 3rd person cooperative shooter, passionate fans have debated the benefits of letting the developers focus on ironing out some of the kinks in Helldivers 2's code against the production of new content. In response, Pilestedt provided an insider's perspective into the title's development, with the Arrowhead CEO stating that things were a bit more complicated.

The next step in Helldivers 2’s ongoing Galactic War is here, and it’s just about the most straightforward yet: kill bugs. Lots of bugs.

The boss of Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has addressed player concern about bugs (not those bugs) as the studio continues to release new content and new premium warbonds.

Helldivers 2's popularity is still sky-high, but more and more demands have been flooding in lately for developer Arrowhead to put a greater focus on squashing bugs rather than adding new content, something which the devs have pointed out isn't exactly straightforward. It's rather ironic, really, given the game's massive focus on killing democracy-hating bugs.

Arrowhead Game Studios has confirmed that it will be making changes to Helldivers 2's flame system soon.

Arrowhead Game Studios has confirmed that Helldivers 2 won't ever get a transmog feature. 

Helldivers 2 director Johan Pilestedt says the game's ammo boosters were inspired by his time serving in the military.

The boss of Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has ruled out a transmog system coming to the hit PC and PlayStation 5 co-op shooter, insisting: “it doesn’t make sense.”

It's bad news for interstellar fashion icons everywhere, as Helldivers 2's creative director confirms that Arrowhead isn't planning to add transmog options to the hit shooter because it just "doesn't make sense."

CEO of Arrowhead Game Studios, Johan Pilestedt, has confirmed that the much-requested transmog customization feature will not be coming to Helldivers 2 anytime soon. As Helldivers 2 is all about dishing out freedom to the galaxy, it's ironic that players are missing a level of freedom of their own, with customization being so limited.

Helldivers 2 players have completed their mission to completely eradicate the Automaton threat from the galaxy map, leaving many to wonder what new threat might arise to imperil Super Earth and stem the spread of managed democracy.

After Helldivers 2's latest patch caused the game to crash more often, Arrowhead has suggested that players "let democracy lie" for a few days.

Helldivers 2 does a fantastic job of straddling the line between being a great game to goof around in with your friends, and delivering actual commentary and world-building about the folly of an oppressive regime. You play as a titular Helldiver, shot down to enemy planets in pods that look like giant bullets — no obvious symbolism there — to fight back waves of nasty Terminid bugs and evil robots. The gameplay is great, but what I’ve come to truly love is the goofy Super Earth propaganda, and how it perfectly encapsulates fascism as a ridiculous ideology that is doomed to fail.

Helldivers 2's anti-cheat software accidentally added another barrier to entry for disabled gamers. Some individuals with disabilities use special tools or programs to improve their gaming experience. However, as anti-cheat software evolves and tightens restrictions on third-party systems, some gamers with disabilities may find it difficult to enjoy certain games. Such is the case with Helldivers 2.

A Helldivers 2 player has been left "disheartened" to find the shooter's anti-cheat gets in the way of their accessibility tools as fans rally around them. 

As the Helldivers 2 community formally piles into Malevelon Creek for a surprise Major Order following a failed operation, creative director and Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt says the studio is talking about ways to make such orders easier to understand.