Helldivers 2 was released on PlayStation 5 and PC on February 8, promptly taking the gaming world by storm. It’s a no-holds-barred, all-out action-fuelled romp that features intense multiplayer mechanics that people have fallen in love with. Unfortunately, Arrowhead Game Studios – the developer behind Helldivers 2 – didn’t anticipate the hype, and since the moment the game was released, it has suffered from network stability and connection issues.
As players join queues, AFK durations are capped, and Arrowhead does everything possible to increase server capacity, the firm’s CEO, Johan Pilestedt, has stressed that people shouldn’t spend their money on the game until ‘the servers can support the capacity’.
Refreshing Honesty
In a post on Twitter, Pilestedt responded to one user saying that they want to buy Helldivers 2 but ‘have no money’. Here’s what the transparent CEO said:
If you have no cash, get it later. While we made a really fun game it’s worth waiting until the servers can support the capacity. I mean, as a CEO I of course want the game to be as profitable as possible, but if you spent yr last $ and got stuck in server queues I’d be (heartbroken)
Some users have suggested that Arrowhead Game Studios temporarily pause the sale of Helldivers 2 so that the studio can fully optimise the servers hosting the game. It’s a drastic solution but it has been done before – one Twitter user made a nod to the 2021 release of the Endwalker expansion for Final Fantasy XIV, which became so popular that Square Enix had to halt sales.
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When I tweeted the original post, it was more a joke than anything else – everyone was talking about Helldivers 2, nonstop, and my comment was made very tongue-in-cheek, so to speak.
I was definitely surprised by the traction the post got, of course – but also that the CEO of Arrowhead responded.
I appreciate his response so much, and only wish all gaming studio CEOs could be like that towards their customers.