Success of Helldivers 2 Fuels Sony Acquisition Rumors, CEO of Arrowhead Denies
The success of Helldivers 2 won't result in Sony's acquisition of the Arrowhead studio, contrary to speculation.
The success of Arrowhead Game Studios has given Sony a really strong title for the beginning of 2024. To such an extent that Johan Pilestedt had to deny rumors about the full takeover of the devs of Helldivers 2 by PlayStation.
There have been no leaks from relatively trusted sources that could indicate Sony Interactive Entertainment's interest in acquiring Arrowhead Studio. Well, except for one, but apparently the leak has already been deleted (via ResetEra / NeoGAF / Reddit). However, it's not surprising that such rumors were circulating among the players.
The second Helldivers' popularity took everyone by surprise, from players to analysts to the devs themselves. Even now, three weeks after its release, the game's sales are still growing, with up to about 450,000 simultaneous users playing daily on Steam alone (via SteamDB). Before the premiere, the developer predicted that servers with a capacity of 250,000 would be more than enough to accommodate both PC and PS5 players.
In this context, it would be easy to believe rumors about Sony potentially acquiring the developer, especially since it is already the game's publisher and has been backing Arrowhead for at least ten years. However, Pilestedt ended these discussions: the comment from one of the internet users on this topic was said to be entirely new to him, which - to quote him - "was fake," unless he "has missed something" as the studio head (via X).
It should be mentioned that taking over Arrowhead Game Studios would be a strange move now. Sony recently became part of the wave of layoffs that has affected the video game industry in recent months. There are also rumors about the fate of one of the studios belonging to SIE, and these wouldn't encourage the devs of Helldivers to join PlayStation Studios.
In previous posts, Pilestedt also mentioned that Arrowhead Game Studios is "owned" only by the company's founders, all of whom also work at the studio themselves. He most likely wouldn't bring it up if a company takeover were to happen (let's not speculate on the need to keep such a decision secret; he would simply need to refrain from commenting on the matter).
By the way, although Helldivers 2 undoubtedly attracts all the attention of the developers, according to Pilestedt (via X), the Arrowhead team hasn't forgotten about its other game - Magicka. It might seem strange, as all indications point to Paradox Interactive currently holding the rights to the brand. Not that it matters much now because the developers are currently focused on mechs, Galactic War, and balance fixes in the second installment of Helldivers.
