CEO Admits Reality, Game Is Massive Success

Helldivers 2 has been a massive success, blasting through it's server capacity, and gaining publicity from the candour of Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt.

Sources:

[Daheretic]

Hopefully games like Helldivers 2, Palworld, Enshrouded, Baldur's Gate 3, etc. will make the entire industry wake up and we can start moving torwards another golden age of gaming.

[TheOnlyHufschmid]

The technical problems were annoying but the honesty and communication through their Discord and quick improvements was redeeming, imo. The gameplay is fantastic, visuals are fantastic, price and model are fantastic. This game is going to have a healthy player base for a long time and I am all here for it!

[_Gorrek_]

This game... it took 15 hours of my day without me realizing it, my lord is it fun

[Dadbod]

Being transparent and actually apologizing gets you far.

[AaronAngelo]

Really looks like we are seeing the rise of new developers/studios to replace the the old guard ruined by corporate greed.
You know the corporate vultures will be looking to buy the studio now that the game is doing very well. Hopefully the Studios ownership can resist the piles of cash they are offered.

I stand Corrected, studio is owned by Sony. Hopefully Sony can resist the urge to meddle in the business.

[brendanwiley]

I think I cracked the code for this generation's viral games, Faceless Friends in space.

[K_FI_L_Y_P_S_O]

A lot of the AAA Studio CEOs could learn a lesson of humility from this man. Activision, EA, and Ubisoft all feel like they have already earned that right just with their name alone and not with the games they produce. We need more people like this CEO in executive studio/publisher positions. Passion over profits. That's not to say you can't make money from your endeavors, however, don't let it be your sole driving force for making it.

[danielshaw]

I’m more than happy to support the developers of HD2 with the occasional micro transaction. I was a HUGE fan of HD1 and their support of the product was commendable. If you want quality games from upstanding developers trying to do it right then we have to be prepared to support them.

[MrFadisoma]

There's something fascinating about the $40 price tag....it made me buy supercredits, psychologically im thinking this game is fucking great, last game I bought was $70 and sucked fucking ass, so spending an additional $10 to get the premium warbond felt like ACTUAL value and well fucking worth it. And the fact that I DON'T have to buy into the next premium warbond and just use my saved up earned super credits is music to my ears. If Larian showed the gaming world that great games don't need mtx, Arrowhead showed them all how to make a great game AND properly do live service and mtx.

[Kazrel]

I earned enough premium credits to buy the pass and a couple sets of armor from the super store in four days, but I might just buy some more credits just to support the devs even more. Amazing game and I hope they can get those servers under control soon!

[sofaking]

I've literally never heard of Helldivers
I played it last night and I'm impressed. It's under $60, the live service doesn't feel awful and the microtransactions are ...honestly so cheap I was confused when I first saw them.
Aaaand you can earn the premium currency in game.

I'm on guard around live service games, but this one is really making me wonder if Arrowhead just gave us the first live service model I don't hate.

[peacewarlord]

The fact that servers were in big problems, progression was bugged but still more than 100K people were playing it on PC alone tells you everything you need to know about the actual game. It's extremely fun and rewarding team oriented PvE action shooter.

[Leviathan]

Helldivers 2 is an amazing game. The fact they have been open about the issue really make me forgive a lot.

[Vioblight]

Helldivers2 is amazing. They have earned the right to game of the year. It’s so fun, intense, funny, and perfect. The sounds are honestly so well done it blows my mind, the sound track is epic, the universe is crisp.

[CalamanSii]

Premium warbond felt bad initially, but I was able to purchase it with super credits I got from in game after about half a day. I then bought the upgrade to super citizen after, to show support.

[MojiiOkay]

Helldivers 2 goes so hard, everyone should try it. There's not much out there that elicits the same sort of feeling as fighting off a wave of automatons in the blue dark of an alien world in HD2.

[DeltaDragon]

First live service game I am loving which I didn't think was possible.

[fatalexception]

This is... the most wholesome admission of reality from a gaming company CEO in the last 10 years. Good on you, Arrowhead CEO.

[jordanharris]

I haven't been this happy playing a game in years and I mean that. When people were playing and not getting rewards, the people I ran into didn't care. We were just having a blast playing the game as randoms together. Like players aren't dumb like they used to be. They see thru developer bullshit and with this team I haven't got any of that. They could have already added a weapon or armor that is super good for $10 and made an absolute killing while the player base is high and they haven't. Players appreciate a game more when they feel appreciated by the developers and that's just a fact. Keep it up Arrowhead. I mean the superstore, which is it's cosmetics, has items costing Let that sink in next time you see cosmetics for $30-$40

[spamartist]

I was there moderating this discord through the technical issues. Reviews like this are what keeps me and my team going through things. Thank you!