While more and more gamers are going the live service route, it hasn’t always been met with success, as not only do you need to have a proper player base to make content for, but you also need to make sure that these same players stay interested and engaged. It seems Arrowhead Game Studios has found the magic formula with Helldivers 2, as even after two months since release, the multiplayer shooter is still being played by hundreds of thousands of players daily.
It seems Arrowhead’s goals are loftier than keeping their players engaged, as Johan Pilestedt, the CEO of the studio, states that they are aiming Helldivers 2 to be the best live service title that gamers have played. This statement was posted on the game’s subreddit, where Pilestedt also shared that the studio needs to not just add to the game, but also to fix what’s broken in order to keep the player base interested.
“We want to deliver the best in the industry and we are calibrating our efforts of fixing vs new stuff. It’s easy to say “just fix, don’t add”, but the reality of the competitiveness in this industry is that we have to do both to stay relevant.
We are figuring it out, the demands and expectations on the studio is high, all eyes are on us, and we have a sole purpose – to make this the best live game you’ve ever played. We just need to find our stride and balance.
It’s a hot topic at the studio, and I’m sorry for the sloppy mistakes we’ve made as of recent.” – Johan Pilestedt, CEO of Arrowhead
In another comment, Pilestedt mentioned that the gaming industry is a “complicated beast,” and added that they need to make sure the player base is entertained while they’re “fixing stuff.” The studio boss also wants to squash any ideas that Sony is forcing them to do anything, and how the publisher trusts the studio.
“Also, my intention was just to say that the games industry is a complicated beast. We need to stay relevant and keep everyone entertained while fixing stuff.
The expectations from our friends at PlayStation are pretty simple: “make great game for players. We trust you”
Nobody is forcing us. But at the same time, the pressure is real 🤔 😅 it’s very abstract.”- Johan Pilestedt, CEO of Arrowhead
So far, so good, Arrowhead seems to be on the right track with their timely Warbond releases and regular title updates for bug fixes and gameplay adjustments.
Do you think Helldivers has a chance to be one of best live service video games of all-time? It seems to be on the right track, no?
Based on what we’ve seen so far, Arrowhead seems to be making all the right moves that we even talked about how Sony should (maybe) focus on smaller games like it instead of AAA offerings.