ARROWHEAD GAME STUDIOS News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

While PS5 shipments missed Sony’s forecasted 21 million for fiscal year 2024, Sony had some positive news in its financials regarding PSN users and software sales. It revealed that the PlayStation Network reached 118 million monthly active users as of March 31st, 2024, up a whopping 10 million from the same period of last fiscal year.

Helldivers 2 far “exceeded the expectations” at Sony, selling 12 million units in first 12 weeks since release, the PlayStation parent said in its earnings call Tuesday. The live service shooter is now PlayStation's fastest-selling title of all time, surpassing the record set by God of War Ragnarok in the same period after its November 2022 launch. Sony also revealed that cumulative unit sales of PS5 reached 59.2 million after the company sold 20.8 million PS5 units in fiscal year 2023.

Arrowhead Games’ Helldivers 2 continues to be one of the biggest hits of the year, and it’s showing no signs of stopping down. A new patch has just been released on PC (more details through here), which helps with game stability and brings other miscellaneous fixes.

As part of its fiscal year 2023 earnings release, Sony has finally confirmed sales for Arrowhead Game Studios’ Helldivers 2. It’s sold 12 million units as of May 5th on PS5 and PC, after launching on February 8th for both platforms, as revealed in a recently concluded conference call.

Cooperative third-person shooter Helldivers II has sold 12 million units as of May 5, publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment and developer Arrowhead Game Studios announced.

The former lead writer of charming super-fascist simulator Helldivers 2 is working on a strategy and tactics RPG in the vein of Nintendo and Intelligent System's Fire Emblem games, which aren't available on PC and as such, are a complete mystery to you, a lifelong desktop warrior who would sooner cut their hand off than suffer it to brush against one of those filthy Nintendo witches, I mean Switches.

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.

Now that Sony releasing its first-party titles on PC as well as PlayStation has become relatively commonplace, it’s easy to lose sight of what a major change in strategy this represents.

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.

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.

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.

Arrowhead Game Studios has released a new update for co-op shooter Helldivers 2. The update focuses on quite a few things, including weapon and enemy balancing, fixes to crashes, fixes to the Social menu, fixes to damage over time effects, fixes for misaligned scopes, and other improvements. Check out the complete patch notes below.

User reviews for the Steam version of Helldivers 2 have been seeing a huge turnaround, as fans change their negative ratings to positive ones.

After several days of player outcry, pushback, and extensive review bombing, Sony has backed down from its demand that Helldivers 2 players be required to link a PSN account on PC if they wanted to continue playing. 

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.

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.

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

Sony’s recent decision to make PlayStation Network logins mandatory for Steam players to be able to continue playing Helldivers 2 hasn’t gone down well with the community, to say the very least. The game has been met with widespread backlash, and among several concerns, one that’s been raised by many is the fact that with PSN not being available in a number of countries, Helldivers 2 is going to become unplayable for players in those regions.

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.

Helldivers 2 is now unavailable for purchase in over 150 regions, and Steam is issuing refunds for the game, regardless of playtime.

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.

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.

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.

If there's one thing that'll rile people up more than a robot blasting them with a laser cannon, it's having to create a new account. That's something Helldivers 2 players will have to do pretty sharpish, as Arrowhead announce mandatory account linking between Steam and Playstation Network. Why? Safety and security apparently.

Helldivers 2 has brought more success for Sony and developer Arrowhead Game Studios than they could ever have imagined, and a large portion of that success has come through the co-op shooter’s sizeable audience on PC. Soon, however, Sony will be implementing a new requirement on that audience in order to be able to play the game.

The Steam version of Helldivers will soon require all players to sign in with a PlayStation Network account.

Helldivers 2’s latest premium Warbond has been revealed

Helldivers 2 oddly requires that I spend its in-game currency on items I don't want (capes, helmets, any emote other than the hug) just so I can gain access to the items I do (sniper rifles, SMGs, other weapons that ultimately turn out to be worse than what I already had).

Arrowhead Game Studios has announced the next Premium Warbond for Helldivers 2 – Polar Patriots. Going live on May 9th, it offers armor sets for cold climates alongside new weapons, emotes, capes and more. Check out the trailer below.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 emerged as the clear winner of video game sales for the United States in March, but Helldivers 2 wasn’t far behind. Arrowhead’s co-op shooter is not only the best-selling premium title of the year to date but also the seventh-best Sony-published title in the US in terms of dollar sales per Circana.

While Dragon’s Dogma 2 topped US software charts for March 2024 per Circana’s Matt Piscatella, Helldivers 2 wasn’t far behind. It ranked in second place and is still the best-selling premium title of the year to date. Furthermore, it’s the seventh best-selling title (in terms of lifetime dollar sales) published by Sony, despite only being on sale for two months.

Hell, it turns out, isn't always a bubbly pool of magma where like, devils prod you with forks. There is a second hell in Helldivers 2, a hell made up of wartorn planets and soldiers who fight bile-spewing bugs and robots. And it is a hell that is subject to patches. One such update has nerfed a bunch of weapons including the popular quasar cannon. It's also increased the number of enemy patrols based on player numbers and tweaked the game's level generation, with the former making life more difficult in hell, and the latter possibly making things more interesting.

Out of nowhere, Arrowhead Game Studios has released an extensive balance patch for Helldivers 2. While it reduces burning damage by 15 percent and reduces headshot damage on those with armor ratings above 100, it offers many changes to existing weapons and Stratagems.

Sony’s multiplatform release strategy has accelerated rapidly in recent years, with the company now viewing PC as a much more prominent part of its larger strategy, especially where live service titles are concerned. Earlier this year, for instance, Helldivers 2 launched simultaneously for PS5 and PC, and it’s fair to say that the majority of game’s unexpected success has been thanks to PC audiences. Now, interestingly enough, it looks like Sony might be considering ways to bring even larger audiences into Arrowhead Game Studios’ acclaimed co-op shooter.

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».

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.

A new patch is live in Arrowhead Game Studios’ Helldivers 2, and as promised, it fixes the passive for the CE-27 Ground Breaker armor. It will now provide the Engineer perk, which grants your character two additional grenades and reduces recoil when crouching or prone.

Arrowhead Game Studios CEO Johann Pilestedt has revealed that Helldivers 2 will not be getting a transmog system. Pilestedt, who also works as creative director on Helldivers 2, took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to talk about why a transmog system doesn’t make sense for the game.

Helldivers 2’s enduring popularity has been surprising to see, with Arrowhead Game Studios and Sony’s co-op shooter continuing to attract players in droves through its excellent live service support even this far from release. In fact, as revealed by Sony’s recently released charts, it was once again the most downloaded PS5 game in both Europe and North America for the month of March, just as was in its launch month of February. 

Between wiping out the Automatons and finding out they’ve returned,Helldivers 2 players have had their hands full recently. Fortunately, some new weapons are available to help even the odds courtesy of the Democratic Detonation Warbond. It adds three new primary weapons: the BR-14 Adjudicator Rifle, CB-9 Exploding Crossbow and R-36 Eruptor Rifle.

Helldivers’ democracy spreading arsenal is set to expand even further with the release of the new Democratic Detonation Warbond on April 11.

Helldivers 2's Major Orders reward system is getting a full overhaul, following player complaints about their hard-earned medals being slow to arrive and as such, damaging their faith in managed democracy, with potentially dire consequences for their ability to massacre spiky robots and large insects.

Last week, the Helldivers 2 community was successful in carrying out the mission of completely decimating the Automaton faction, leaving many to wonder where the game would go from here. As many predicted, things are only going to get worse from here.

Did you really think Helldivers 2 players had wiped out the Automatons for good? Nope.

Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has released update 01.000.202 for Helldivers 2 on PC and PS5, which targets game stability and mission-crashing bugs.

Over the weekend, intrepid Helldivers accomplished what perhaps once seemed unimaginable: eradicating all bots in Helldivers 2. Combined with the news that all those Terminind bugs are now «contained», to use developer Arrowhead's words, the feeling among players is one of celebration. Right? We beat Helldivers 2?

Upon its launch in February, Helldivers 2 got off to a better start than almost anyone could have expected, attracting players on both PS5 and PC in droves and selling at a faster pace than even Sony would have anticipated. Two months on from its release, the co-op shooter is continuing to maintain momentum in impressive fashion.

Exciting news for the future of everyone's favourite co-op shooter that isn't legally an adaptation of Starship Troopers. A few days ago, Helldivers 2 issued a new major order to annihilate the Automatons, who had been pushed back like never before. And annihilate you all did, with players' combined efforts being officially recgonised yesterday on the Helldivers 2 Xitter: Mission Accomplished! The bots have been eradicated!

Two months after the launch of Helldivers 2, one of its enemy factions, the Automatons, has been wiped out. Arrowhead Game Studios issued a new Major Order, “Swift Disassembly” two weeks ago to destroy the entire faction, and players have seemingly succeeded. This is despite the Automatons deploying new walker-like Factory Striders and gunships.

Helldivers 2 is getting a new premium warbond next week, offering some explosive new options to take into battle, aim at an enemy bug or robot, and then accidentally kill your entire squad by mistake. Or maybe that’ll just be me.

Arrowhead Game Studios has detailed Helldivers 2’s latest premium Warbond.

Helldivers 2's next Premium Warbond is set to launch next week, on 11th April.

Helldivers 2’s next Premium (i.e. paid) Warbond is arriving on April 11, Sony and developer Arrowhead Game Studios have announced, bringing another batch of new weapons, armour, and cosmetics for players to unlock.

Arrowhead Game Studios’ latest patch for Helldivers 2 went live with some hefty changes, like increasing the level cap to 150, balancing several weapons and even adding blizzards and sandstorms. However, it also brought some undocumented new enemies, specifically to the Automaton faction.

It's update day for Helldivers 2, and — as detailed in its patch notes — the big new addition is terrible, awful weather befitting of battling across planetary hellscapes. However — as not detailed in its patch notes — it's sneakily added a huge AT-AT-like robot enemy too.

Arrowhead Game Studios has done an excellent job of keeping the Helldivers 2 player base actively engaged and interested in all of its live offerings. Along with Major Orders handing collective missions for the entire community to work towards, the game has also received numerous patches and updates, another one of which has now arrived.

Helldivers 2 has received a new patch, bringing the game up to version 1.000.200.

So, how was everyone’s long weekend? I don’t want to alarm anyone, but I think I may have even sensed the fading ghost of an immeasurably whisper-thin ray of sunshine at one point. Enough! Says a new patch for co-op shooter Helldivers 2. You know who else enjoys basking in the pleasant glow of mildly enjoyable weather when there’s freedoms that need fighting for? Bug sympathisers, that’s who. As such, the developers have gone and added new planetary hazards in the form of blizzards and sandstorms, alongside the usual balance tweaks.

Helldivers 2 has been nothing short of a revelation, having enjoyed critical and commercial success to degrees that even Sony or developer Arrowhead Game Studios would have dreamt. But even with all of its success, has it become one of PlayStation’s bigger properties? Johan Pilested – CEO of Arrowhead and director of Helldivers 2 – certainly hopes to see it get to that level one day.

With the new Major Order to take down the Automatons in Helldivers 2, which players generally feel disdain for, it seems about right to receive some new armaments. Arrowhead Game Studios has confirmed the addition of two new weapons – the LAS-99 Quasar Cannon and the MG-101 Heavy Machine Gun.

Arrowhead Game Studios has released a new patch for Helldivers 2, and though it only contains one fix, it’s pretty essential. Patch 1.000.104 ensures your game no longer freezes upon using Arc-based weapons and Stratagems.

Helldivers 2’s live service storytelling has been one of the biggest factors contributing to its enduring success, and it looks like the co-op shooter is ready to take another significant step forward in those efforts.

According to our mysterious Treehouse member, our Jource (Joel Source) got in touch with them last night in regards to the APC story I'd posted (to safeguard democracy, I'm not going to reveal either of their identities). They wanted to "put the record straight" and say that it wasn't the work of Real Joel, because Real Joel's so busy scheming, he simply wouldn't have time to drop into games like some patriotic Bad Santa. Real Joel is, however, seemingly glad that the impersonator wanted "other people to have fun" as it's a goal that they "both share".

One of my favourite things about Helldivers 2 is the fact it's home to a human game master, known as "Joel", who controls the narrative. Joel's been known to leave surprises, namely mechs before they officially launched a while back. And now he's seemingly granted a group of lucky players the chance to ride about in an armoured truck outfitted with guns. Maybe, just maybe this signals their imminent release?

After denials by Arrowhead Game Studios CEO and director Johann Pilestedt that Helldivers 2 has flying bugs—playfully dismissing it as propaganda by “bug sympathizers”—the studio boss has now acknowledged that “most bugs fly” and that the arrival of flying bugs was only ever a matter of time.

Helldivers 2 was the best-selling game of February in the US and the best-selling game so far this year.

Helldivers 2 has taken the world by storm ever since its launch in early February, so it’s no surprise that the game is continuing to top sales charts all over the world. Circana (formerly known as the NPD Group) recently released the data for software and hardware sales in the US for the month of February (via analyst Mat Piscatella on Twitter), and Arrowhead Game Studios and Sony’s co-op shooter has topped those charts.

Arrowhead Game Studios has released a new patch for Helldivers 2, addressing issues with the recently introduced EXO-45 Patriot exosuit and Planetary Hazards. The latter has seen some changes to its spawn rates, and players should see less of them during missions.

Helldivers 2 was February’s best-selling game in Europe following an impressive launch.

With server issues resolved in Helldivers 2, Arrowhead Game Studios has been going full throttle with new content and teases. It recently implemented Planetary Hazards like meteor showers, the EX-45 Patriot Exosuit and a new Premium Warbond, Cutting Edge. However, there have also been teases of flying Terminids and, more recently, mysterious blue lasers.

Arrowhead Game Studios’ Helldivers 2 is a great success, which is even more noteworthy when other live service titles (like Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and Skull and Bones) have faltered or failed. Studio CEO Johan Pilestedt indicated that it sold almost three million units last month, but the current figure could be higher.

Between Planetary Hazards, Exosuits and inoculating a sector against the Terminids (only to discover flying variants), Helldivers 2 has kept Super-Earth lovers busy for the previous weeks. If all that wasn’t enough, the latest Premium Warbond “Cutting Edge” is now available, adding new weapons, armor and cosmetics.

Helldivers 2's Cutting Edge Premium warbond, aka DLC battle pass, is now available to buy in-game, and it is chock-full of oddball gadgetry such as lightning shotguns, burst-fire laser rifles and experimental armour. As with the Arc Thrower stratagem, the lightning shotgun fires arcs of electricity that conduct between players and enemies alike, but there's a fresh armour perk, Electrical Conduit, which reduces arc damage by 95%, allowing close-knit teams of Helldivers to roll around the battlefield frazzling themselves without much penalty.

It was just the two of us, strangers on a crimson wasteland of an alien planet, surrounded by swarming giant bugs whose only purpose was to rip us to shreds. We'd cleared out the oozing nests, successfully launched the ICBM, and reached our extraction zone to get the hell out. But as we waited for our transport, the bugs overwhelmed us. The auto turret we'd put down was destroyed, I was out of clips for my heavy machine gun, no grenades. We were running around, shooting at the ocean of insects at our heels, counting down seconds when our aircraft arrived. Just as we beelined towards the rear doors, my squad mate called in an orbital strike on the area. We stood at the gates, unloaded our guns one last time on bugs right in front of us, and watched a glorious missile strike obliterate everything in sight before we flew off planet.

From fire tornadoes and meteor showers last week to new armour and weapons later this week, Arrowhead Game Studios’ accelerated post-launch plans for Helldivers 2 have been bearing fruit in some interesting ways. Most intriguing have been the developer’s ongoing live service storytelling efforts, which have now taken the form of flying bugs- but don’t let any of the Super Earth faithful hear you say that.

Helldivers 2 is continuing its strong reign by introducing yet another round of space bugs for us to deal with. Also, some of them seem to be flying. What's that all about Joel?!

A new Major Order in Arrowhead Game Studios’ Helldivers 2 sees players venturing to the Umlaut Sector to inoculate its planets against the Terminids. However, there’s also a new patch with some significant changes – like reducing the number of armored enemies that spawn at higher difficulties. A common complaint, it became more pronounced following the Railgun nerf.

Shortly after introducing exosuits to Helldivers 2, developer Arrowhead Game Studios has now issued a new major order for players to chase after. Having dealt with Automatons to quite an extent in the previous major order, the latest one now tasks Helldivers with permanently quarantining Terminids out of an entire sector of the galaxy.

Arrowhead Game Studios’ Helldivers 2 has proven a massive success, topping charts in the UK and PlayStation Store sales for February (with CEO Johan Pilestedt teasing three million units sold). It only feels right then that an accolades trailer should be released, highlighting the praise critics have heaped on the title. Check it out below.