From Warhammer 40K to Star Wars, Helldivers 2 creative director "would love to do a take on" loads of IP, but doing them all would be a "not Helldivers" experience

Helldivers 2 screenshot showing a fully geared/armored diver standing with gun in hand as three jets soar the skies behind him
(Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)

Helldivers 2's creative director Johan Pilestedt has shared a whole list of IPs he'd "love to do a take on," even if he acknowledges that doing them all would ultimately make Arrowhead's hit third-person shooter "a 'not Helldivers' experience."

This comes after a recent Twitter interaction between Pilestedt and the official account for the upcoming tabletop skirmish game Trench Crusade, which he complimented as "such a cool IP" before adding that he "would love to do a HD2 + TC crossover." He's since clarified that his thoughts were "just musings," so nothing is set in stone, but that's not stopped him from posting an "extended list of IPs that I really would love to do a take on!" 

It's certainly a varied bunch, including Warhammer 40K, Star Wars, Terminator, Blade Runner, Alien, Starship Troopers, and more – you can see the full list below. However, it's clear that we're never going to get to a point where all of these are available as collaborations in the third-person shooter, as he explains before even getting into the list: "These are just musings, if we were to do all of them, it would dilute the IP and make it a 'not Helldivers' experience."

In the replies, Pilestedt goes on to say that the list isn't necessarily compatible with Helldivers 2 or his vision for the game; the things listed are simply based on "my personal preference and joys in life." Elaborating on Star Wars specifically, he notes that "it wouldn't fit with the Helldivers universe. But it's fun watching the mods where everyone's a clone trooper."

With that said, he's clearly given the idea of crossovers some thought. Responding to one fan asking if a hypothetical crossover could be a Warbond or "something small," he says: "I think either would be fine. Like, being able to get the M56a2 Smart Gun as an individual Superstore item would be awesome! But... having a full Starship Troopers Warbond with mobile infantry armor, voices and weapons would also be cool!" However, he reiterates: "Nothing decided yet."

We'll just have to watch this space – Arrowhead community manager Thomas 'Twinbeard' Petersson previously said that the devs "don't want to be Kingdom Hearts or Fortnite" with crossovers, which should "make sense and fit in." So, we never would have expected anything too out of place. 

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Catherine Lewis
News Writer

I'm one of GamesRadar+'s news writers, who works alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.

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