Looking to steady the metaphorical ship before changing course with new endeavors, the director of Helldivers 2, Mikael Eriksson, has stated that the development team will be focusing on releasing more frequent, biweekly updates to avoid a build-up of bugs needing fixes. Despite a successful launch in 2024, Helldivers 2 has since been inundated with balancing issues and performance problems that the team is now prioritizing, with fresh content taking a temporary backseat until quality of life improvements can stabilize the overall player experience.
Helldivers 2 is a fast-paced third-person shooter where players forge headfirst into hostile battles in 1-4 player cooperative combat, fulfilling various objectives to complete missions while fighting against hordes of enemies. Upon its initial launch, the game was praised for its addictive gunplay and impressive graphics, though a massive surge of players early on led to consistent server crashes. Developer Arrowhead spent subsequent months working to make adjustments and alterations while also wanting to provide new content, and now, over a year and a half after its launch, the studio is shifting focus to fully prioritize making Helldivers 2 better before expanding with fresh additions.
Helldivers 2 Update Schedule and New Roadmap
Speaking in an interview with GameSpot, Helldivers 2 game director Mikael Eriksson shared a new update schedule for the game, which will see Arrowhead working to release new patches every two weeks to help dial in growing issues with performance, balancing, and cumbersome file sizes. Even the game’s dedicated player base has voiced frustration with the continued complications, some of which have been hindering gameplay for months, leading Eriksson and Arrowhead to pull back on ambitions to pursue a planned content roadmap and instead lock in on diagnosing and fixing the slew of problems with Helldivers 2.
Eriksson commented that each patch aims to replicate recent fixes, one of which saw over 200 bugs being patched out in a single update. These large-scale improvements following the bi-weekly schedule are expected to last until sometime in December, at which point Arrowhead will work towards getting back to its intended content roadmap for Helldivers 2. Whether the team will hit its intended target of resolving all major issues with the game by December 2025 remains to be seen, but players are tentatively optimistic at the promise of more frequent patches and bug fixes becoming a priority.
Live-service games like Helldivers 2 understandably face an array of issues, ranging from finding the best balance to make gameplay enjoyable to ensuring stability for individual players and overall servers. Despite the issues plaguing the game, many still see the potential for Helldivers 2 to have a bright future, and only time will tell if an extended maintenance detour will be just what Arrowhead needs to course correct.
- Released
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February 8, 2024
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
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Arrowhead Game Studios, Nixxes
- Publisher(s)
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Sony Interactive Entertainment, PlayStation Publishing
Source: GameSpot
