This article reflects on the tumultuous first year of Helldivers 2's release, highlighting its unexpected popularity, development struggles, and the rollercoaster ride it has been for both players and developers.
There is a saying, somewhat applicable to our current circumstances, that is spoken only as a curse:'May you live in interesting times.' Helldivers 2 is by most metrics, but it also happens to be the perfect distillation of that sentiment:'May you develop an interesting game.” Looking back over 2024, I wouldn't wish such a curse on my worst enemy. To call Helldivers 2 's first year 'hectic' is like saying that a tidal wave got you 'damp'.
I've been combing over our past year of coverage to write this article, and let me tell you, it's a rollercoaster. Its players have loved it like a carnival ride, showing up en-masse to create the first stomach-dropping plunge, followed by a series of sharp spikes and helix turns. It's enough to make a gamer woozy. It's perhaps fitting that, as a game, Helldivers 2 had a troubled start even before it hit Steam. This thing was in development for, with former CEO (current CCO) Johan Pilestedt citing both the studio's rapid growth and a set of moving targets as the main factor. In his own words,'We had this mentality from being in a small studio where we basically said yes to any challenge because we knew that we could do it. But the problem is that, suddenly, when you can't do it anymore, that starts biting you in the ass.' I'm struggling to draw any conclusion, other than the fact—and I say this with complete sympathy—that Arrowhead Games is just a studio that will never get to know peace. Pilestedt must have upset a witch or something, and now a pox has been placed upon the studio to get knocked down, then get back up again every other month.I don't think anyone, least of all Arrowhead, anticipated that Helldivers 2 would be as popular as it was in those first few months. As someone there at the beginning, I can say it was absolute mayhem. Arrowhead hit the ground running into deal with a horde of hundreds of thousands of players showing up to shoot bugs and bots, across Steam and PlayStatio
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