Highlights

  • Arrowhead CEO Pilestedt shuts down the idea of adding a PvP mode to Helldivers 2 to avoid toxic elements and maintain a supportive and fun environment for all players.
  • The studio focuses on PvE style games for players to have a challenging time with friends, rather than PvP experiences, as indicated by Pilestedt's response.
  • Pilestedt recommends Escape from Tarkov for players who are interested in PvP, emphasizing that Helldivers 2 is designed for cooperative play.

Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt responds to a fan question regarding the potential addition of a PvP dedicated mode every coming to Helldivers 2 at some point in the future. It's been a wild week for Arrowhead and Helldivers 2, which experienced unprecedented success following the game's launch on PC and PS5. Quickly becoming Steam's top-selling game in the US and Sony's most concurrently played game on Steam, the crush of players had a negative impact on Helldivers 2's servers forcing the studio to enter crisis mode to fix backend issues and load.

Thanks to the various updates and backend fixes, Helldivers 2 has quickly stabilized and players have continued to dig into the live service title. It's clear that Arrowhead intends to capitalize on the game's sudden success, not only with permanent battle passes similar to Halo: Infinite, but Arrowhead is now looking to hire more developers to further accelerate and increase future content offerings. In the mean time, fans and players alike have continued to offer suggestions and feedback on what they'd like to see added, though sometimes those opinions don't always align with the overall vision of the studio.

An image of Mass Effect's male Commander Shepard insterted into a screenshot from Helldivers 2.
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Will Helldivers 2 Ever Have Dedicated PvP?

Responding to a fan on Twitter who suggested that Helldivers 2 tries to steal the CoD audience by adding a PvP dedicated mode, Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt shut the conversation down quickly by stating that Helldivers 2 will never add a PvP-only mode. To prevent potentially inviting toxic elements into the game, Pilestedt instead confirmed that the developers want to foster an environment that is supportive, fun, and where all players are fighting together on the same side.

After a followup comment accused the studio as being too scared, Pilestedt responded by saying it has nothing to do with being afraid to do it, it's just the studio is strongly against anything that could add unwanted toxicity to the experience. Instead, the studio focuses on PvE style games for folks to have a challenging time with friends, ending the response by recommending Escape from Tarkov. Part of that viewpoint has likely formed from how much the community has already come together positively, with a group of Helldivers 2 players coming up with a list of unspoken rules to help players, a post on the game's subreddit that has seen a lot of traction already.

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This isn't the first time Pilestedt has responded to players over social media, as Arrowhead's CEO has been pretty outspoken in the days following the release of Helldivers 2, a game which has clearly gone above and beyond what the team at Arrowhead was expecting. Keeping fans updated with upcoming patches and plans to deal with the launch day server issues, Pilestedt has also answered various questions including the hot topic issue surrounding microtransactions with Helldivers 2.