Despite being Sony’s biggest cross-platform launch to date, Helldivers 2 has struggled with severe technical issues, mostly regarding servers. Now, the game’s creative director has advised interested players to hold off on purchasing the game until all the issues are resolved—which may prove more complex than anticipated.
Arrowhead chief executive Johan Pilestedt responded to player inquiries on X (formerly Twitter) on Feb. 19 regarding server stability and capacity issues that have plagued the game since launch. The players demanded an update, but Pilestedt refused to pressure his employees, saying that he’d rather let the engineers work at their own pace without his breathing down their necks. During this discussion, he eventually said players should “get the game later” if they didn’t have the means to support the developers right now. “While we made a really fun game it’s worth waiting until the servers can support the capacity,” Pilestedt said.
“As a CEO I of course want the game to be as profitable as possible,” the executive added. However, he remarked he’d be very disappointed if players didn’t get what they paid for. “If you spent your last dollar and got stuck in server queues I’d be heartbroken,” he explained. Helldivers 2 continues to grow, as the game climbed to the number three spot in Steam’s most-played list on Feb. 19, beating out viral sensation Palworld and other notable AAA titles. As of right now, the action-packed shooter carries a “mixed” review label on Steam, with 68 percent of players willing to recommend the game. The primary concerns of those leaving a negative remark are, as has become fashion with modern games, technical problems such as low server capacity, long queues, and frequent disconnects.
In spite of all the trouble, Helldivers 2 is by all means a successful story and can only become better as the developers manage to navigate through the waves of bugs (of both kinds).
