Helldivers 2, the surprisingly enjoyable third-person co-op shooter from Arrowhead Game Studios, has blasted off to stratospheric success, exceeding the studio’s wildest expectations. The game’s launch week saw a deluge of eager players, briefly overwhelming the servers and prompting Arrowhead to double capacity. Despite this, demand continues to soar, propelling Helldivers 2 past 200,000 concurrent players on Steam, a record for PlayStation titles on the platform.
Facing this unexpected surge, Arrowhead is now gearing up for a significant expansion as it prepares to support the game for the foreseeable future.
In a tweet, the studio’s CEO Johan Pilestedt announced a hiring spree to “accelerate and beef up” content plans, seeking “amazing developers” to enlist and join their ranks. This comes a short while after Pilestedt’s earlier statement about striving to make Helldivers 2 “the best co-op game of all time,” much to the delight of grunts around the universe.
With the success of @helldivers2, we are going to start looking for more amazing developers that can help us accelerate and beef up our content plans. Jobs will be going up soon, but if you are a senior dev there's always the "open application". Enlist today with @ArrowheadGS .
— Pilestedt (@Pilestedt) February 14, 2024
Helldivers 2 distinguishes itself from other live-service titles by its player-friendly approach – a rarity in a microtransaction-centered market.
Whereas the likes of Diablo 4 are criticized for overcharging players for cosmetics, Helldivers lets players earn premium currency in-game, primarily used for cosmetic items, avoiding predatory monetization practices. This, coupled with its intense and strategic co-op gameplay, has catapulted the game to the top of Steam’s charts.
Beyond its stellar launch, Helldivers 2 marks a potential shift for PlayStation Studios. It’s one of Sony’s rare exclusives to simultaneously release on PC and PlayStation 5, suggesting the company’s growing embrace of multiplatform releases for live-service titles, though single-player experiences might retain console exclusivity for a period.
This is also in line with Sony’s recent statements about seeking other avenues for revenue and profit, presumably speeding up the timeline with which it brings its exclusives to other platforms.
With that said, Arrowhead’s job listings hint at a broad scope for expansion. From a talent acquisition partner to programmers and engineers, the diverse roles sought are proof of the studio’s ambitious plans for Helldivers 2’s future.
As they prepare to unveil their roadmap for Helldivers 2, cadets eagerly await the exciting new features, weapons, gear, and missions that will continue to shape this now-beloved co-op experience.
