„We Need More Compassion and Union in the World, and Less Rivalry.” Helldivers 2 Devs Comment on Platform War
Johan Pilestedt has once again given Helldivers 2 fans food for thought, although not all of his posts have received wide approval from players.
The CEO of Arrowhead Game Studios made it clear that the team wanted to create a relatively friendly community around their new game. Johan Pilestedt repeated this belief in another post, in which he called for "more compassion and union in the world," not only among Helldivers 2 players.
If you didn't miss the whole of February, you are well aware of the unexpectedly huge success of the second Helldivers. It's true that the title didn't attract millions of users on Steam like Palworld, but after a month it still has a similar player base as in the best of times (not that Pocketpair studio complains about the "less" popularity of its game).
Devs of Helldivers 2 are following in the footsteps of Palworld developers
Of course, when there are hundreds of thousands of people, there will always be a certain group of players who appear to take more pleasure from ruining the fun or mood of others than from the game itself. For instance, one Internet user saw fit to emphasize that Helldivers 2 is "better" than the Halo series, which only earned him criticism from Pilestedt.
In response to this fan's post, the CEO of Arrowhead studio rhetorically asked about the sense of such comparisons. In his opinion, players can "love and enjoy both" (or none of them) because the world needs more "compassion and union" and less "competition" (via X).
Pilestedt's appeal gained applause from Internet users, in a way complementing the earlier statement of the Palworld developers. However, it's questionable whether his words will have a lasting impact on the discussion about games and the platform war. This at least served as a reminder to players to advocate for the release of Helldivers 2 on Xbox as a means of "reducing" competition between consoles and PCs.
Weapon secrets in Helldivers 2
Johan Pilestedt remains very active on social media, which is evident not only from - for lack of a better term - benevolent appeals. The head of Arrowhead Game Studios also reveals various information about the game; whether it's about the "god"/"gamemaster" guiding the galactic conflict or the secret weapon stats in Helldivers 2.
The weapon in the game is described by 4 statistics, and players wouldn't be themselves if they didn't discuss the "metagame." In practice, this frequently leads to intense debates about the superiority of one weapon over another, whether in terms of its effectiveness in dealing with Super Earth's opponents or the pleasure of using it.
Just as in the case of attempts to transfer the platform war to the ground of his team's game, Pilestedt quickly took a critical stance. It turns out that weapons in Helldivers 2 have not only four transparent statistics but also dozens of hidden parameters. In extreme cases, a given piece may even have 50 of them.
Fun over metagame
This time not all fans supported the devs' approach, which isn't surprising. For some players, optimizing gameplay can be a great time or even a requirement when dealing with more difficult challenges. The fact that the developers make it difficult for them by hiding the "numbers" is considered a terrible and completely incomprehensible decision (via X / Reddit).
This how the weapon statistics was supposed to look like in Helldivers 2. On the second page there would be information about ammunition. Source: Johan Pilestedt / Service X.
However, the team had a reason to forgo presenting detailed statistics. The devs of Helldivers 2 want players to simply choose the weapon they "like the most" without considering its place in the metagame.
Just like in the case of "platform wars," metagame is one of those topics that inevitably has to appear in the discourse of almost every game (even single-player). In theory, this is meant to simplify players' lives by providing them with information on the most effective, quickest, or safest methods for overcoming challenges.
The problem is that it can sometimes lead to a mentality known as "metaslave," which involves imposing on oneself and others the use of "optimal" options. In extreme cases, this leads to discrimination against players who don't use the "meta:" kicking them out of the game or leaving them alone in the session.
So, it can be understood why the Pilestedt team, wanting to reduce toxic behavior, gave up on detailed weapon statistics. Nevertheless, the team needs to address these statistics, as most fans currently agree that the balance of weapons is far from satisfactory. The developers confirmed that the first patch with such improvements is on the way.
