Thanks to its engaging co-op gameplay and intriguing lore, Helldivers 2 has established itself as one of the most popular games in the world. However, the high active player count doesn’t mean anything to Arrowhead Game Studios. The studio focuses on “laughter per minute” rather than the active player count, and that’s one of the main reasons behind Helldivers 2‘s success.
Due to various reasons, Helldivers 2 lost 90% of its player base on Steam in July 2024. The game was on the verge of dying, but Arrowhead was determined to turn things around. The game is once again dominating the genre, but many players take the game a bit too seriously, and they must understand that Arrowhead never expected players to play the game like that.
While developing Helldivers 2, Arrowhead Game Studios focused on “laughter per minute“
Many Helldivers 2 players love to roleplay as Super Earth’s brave soldiers, so it makes sense why they are full of rage when something unexpected kills them on the battlefield. Many serious divers have pointed out this problem, but they must understand that Arrowhead Game Studios has designed the game in such a way that it kills you in a hilarious, unexpected way.
Recently, game director Mikael Eriksson appeared for an interview with Polygon and explained that Johan Pilestedt, the Chief Creative Officer of Arrowhead, never focused on player count because he’s more passionate about “laughter per minute.” Eriksson said,
Our creative director, Johan [Pilestedt], said once that the main metric he’s passionate about is laughter per minute. In that sense, we’re like a party game. It’s important to us that when you’re playing, you do laugh, you do experience these hilarious, emergent moments – If you get hit by a Hellpod, you should die. If your friend shoots you in the head, you should die from that. And we believe that when we create the world and focus on believability, those hilarious moments can happen.
Earlier in the interview, Eriksson explained that the studio’s goal was to make deaths hilarious. They wanted players to go through challenging, intense moments just to die unexpectedly a few seconds later. Many players take the game way too seriously, but that’s exactly what Arrowhead doesn’t want the players to do.
Arrowhead Game Studios is working on a lot of new content
Since the release of the Omens of Tyranny update, Helldivers 2 has been constantly improving. Arrowhead’s new strategy is to focus on players’ feedback, which has allowed them to improve the game significantly. In fact, the studio even decided to give away Helldivers 2 x Killzone collaboration items for free when players complained about the cost of the bundle.
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The studio has been working on a lot of new enemies, maps, Stratagems, and weapons. The Jet Brigade and Predator Strain are just the beginning, as more Illuminate enemies are also expected to appear on the battlefield soon. The game is slowly shaping up to be one of the best games in 2025, and who knows, it might win the Best Multiplayer Game award again.
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