Many Helldivers 2 devs lost a week of work due to Sony's "PSN-gate," and they were already struggling with "massive pressure" from the shooter's explosive launch

Helldivers 2
(Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)

Helldivers 2 studio Arrowhead is still struggling to catch up to the intense pressure that comes with releasing such a wildly, unexpectedly successful game - and now they're also dealing with internal delays caused by the recent PSN-linking kerfuffle.

Over on the official Helldivers Discord channel, community manager Twinbeard explained from their perpsective why there's sometimes the perception that Arrowhead is slow to react to and implement changes based on community feedback. In Twinbeard's opinion, the issue comes down to the size of the studio still not being in proportion to the success of the game.

"I think the biggest issue so far has been that we were overwhelmed already by launch," Twinbeard said. "It takes time - a lot of time - to bounce back and get ahead with such massive pressure, and what can easily can be perceived as us being slow or not listening is more (IMHO anyway) the fact that we're still not up to speed.

"Also, the game is still only three months old, but due to is being such a massive success, there's a ton of sentiment, opinions, suggestions and great feedback, some of which we lack the time and resources to always handle satisfactory. We're hiring and learning, though! ❤️"

Compounding the issue, of course, is the fact that Arrowhead is now only just recovering from an absolute nightmare of a PR crisis after Sony made the decision to mandate PSN linking for Helldivers 2 PC players. That mandate has since been reversed, but not before the game's Steam rating took a serious beating.

"Also, when sth like the PSN-gate (TM) happens, a lot of things come to a halt," Twinbeard said. "Many of us at AH more or less 'lost' a week due to this, and only now are slowly getting back to what we were doing before all of this (and that's even with it not being entirely resolved as well)."

Twinbeard added that, as Arrowhead grows it plans "to do a lot of other things" including "vlogs, streams, interviews, community events, competitions etc. Hopefully we'll manage to both get there AND communicate changes and feedback for/to the game."

From the beginning, Arrowhead has been candid about the fact that Helldivers 2's explosive success has been a lot to keep up with. Back at launch, the big issue was simply maintaining server stability, but now that that's mostly been resolved, it seems the focus has turned to making sure community feedback is being properly considered and acknowledged. At least on that front, I'd say the community scored a massive win by getting a company as big as Sony to completely reverse course on a fairly significant policy change.

Arrowhead recently asked Helldivers 2 players for Warbond feedback, and boy did it get some: after 21,000 votes, over 70% of recruits don't like the new gear or would prefer more patches.

Jordan Gerblick

After scoring a degree in English from ASU, I worked as a copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. Now, as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer, I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my apartment, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.

Read more
Helldivers 2 screenshot showing a fully geared/armored diver standing with gun in hand as three jets soar the skies behind him
Helldivers 2 boss told launch players not to buy until servers calmed down, and it "took 5 minutes until I got a call from the friendly people over at PlayStation asking what the f*** I was smoking"
A Helldiver holding a flag in a promotional image for Helldivers 2.
Helldivers 2 only had 20 devs working on it when development began, but High Command is now over 6 times larger and has continued to expand since launch
Helldivers 2 intro cutscene helldiver thumbs up
Helldivers 2's Galactic War resumes as Arrowhead fixes its broken liberation rates, and High Command insists anyone who saw anything weird "may be suffering from Illuminate mind-influence"
Helldivers 2 Ultimatum
Helldivers 2 has a Major Order problem, but the solution isn't simple because "having 100% participation means the MOs will always be won and that introduces other issues"
Helldivers 2 Ultimatum
Sweet liberty, a Helldivers 2 update "is breaking the Galactic War" so now the whole thing is paused, but good news: "We are not going to revert any of the damage done by this"
Helldivers 2 screenshot showing someone using a big gun
Helldivers 2 boss says "death and rebirth" is a natural part of the games industry, but it's "unnecessarily brutal" right now "because we don't diversify enough"
Latest in Co Op
A character's face in horror game REPO.
Best REPO mods to improve your matches with more players and new monsters
Cropped key art for Revenge of the Savage Planet showing two player characters running away from lots of green goo, flanked by various googly-eyed wildlife
Revenge of the Savage Planet is a refreshingly colorful and light-hearted co-op throwback to the carefree action platformers of the noughties
The two characters in Split Fiction holding their hands up in surrender in a futuristic city
The actors behind Split Fiction's main characters nearly botched their first auditions because they didn't know the script had two sides: "We were just stood there, sweating"
A player carrying a potion in horror game REPO.
REPO Strength explained and how to upgrade it
A room in horror game REPO.
How to play REPO
The two characters in Split Fiction in futuristic bodysuits staring at a huge crack in the simulation they're in
Split Fiction players defeat secret challenge so tough that some of the devs themselves can "barely" complete it, and get rewarded with the promise of an early peek at the director's next game
Latest in News
Pillars of Eternity
10 years later, in a post-Baldur's Gate 3 and Avowed world, Obsidian is giving its own throwback CRPG Pillars of Eternity a turn-based combat mode
Destiny 2 Lightfall
When Destiny 2 "weekly active users dropped lower and faster than we'd seen since 2018," Bungie assembled an A-Team to put out some fires: "We needed to do something"
Velma, Daphne, Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby-Doo looking at a giant key which is also a clue
Netflix is rebooting Scooby-Doo as a live-action series from the producer of Supergirl and The Flash centered around a "supernatural murder" at a summer camp
Astro Bot
Astro Bot went through 23 pitch iterations before its director promised PlayStation "happy gameplay" and "overflowing charm," though it did once end with robot decapitation that made "some people really upset"
Tomb Raider
5 years after Avengers, 2 years after its last layoffs, and who knows how long before Perfect Dark and Tomb Raider return, Crystal Dynamics announces another round of layoffs
AI Limit
"AI is not as effective as it might appear": Dev of AI-focused Soulslike RPG says they didn't use any AI-generated content and it can't match "genuine creativity"