Helldiver 2 devs backtrack over spicy comments to gun balancing concerns

After some charged responses from developers at Arrowhead, its CEO Johan Pilestedt has apologized on social media. The new patch weakened several weapons that were considered part of the ‘meta’ in addition to refinements in armor and missions. Arrowhead had already detailed in length the reasoning behind their changes in a blog post.

Among the buffs and nerfs, the nerfs to the Breaker shotgun, the Railgun, and the portable Shield Generator have angered some fans. Not everyone is on board with these changes. The discussion got heated to the point where a developer had to intervene and their comments were perhaps not the most constructive.

Helldivers 2 devs apologize for their response to player feedback

In a Reddit thread, senior animator Fredrik Eriksson shared a response that started with “I’m feeding the rage a little for my own entertainment here, just so you know.” He then proceeded to note “We haven’t nerfed anything into the ground, I just think it’s a little too early to pretend like the game is figured out. We made two of the most brainless playstyles less viable, and brought the guns that are under/overperforming more into line with the rest.”

As is commonplace on the internet, users on the Helldivers subreddit started sharing screencaps of this statement. This also includes Eriksson’s acknowledgment of the situation where he mentions “The game is only a couple of weeks old, so before we start making sweeping changes we want everything roughly where we intended from the start.”

Eriksson apologized for his comments. “I went a little far with the trolling, but what I said is said,” he wrote in another thread. “I’m sorry if people took offence to it, I’m not going to engage with the community anymore, since as many people have pointed out; we have a community team that should handle that. I figured I’d have a little fun with the players, but I realize being a dev I’m in an unfair position. Maybe this isn’t going to mend anything with you, but at least I feel I should own up to it and apologize. I’m sorry.”

Arrowhead’s CEO addressed these comments on social media

CEO Pilestedt quickly addressed the communication blunder. “Since I am a heavy subscriber of a communicative studio it means that I encourage developers to engage with the community,” notes Pilestedt. “However this also exposes us to risks of miscommunication or heated arguments and it’s something that we actively discuss internally at the studio to improve on. While I understand that it reflects on the studio as a whole, it is not our intention that this should be the behavior from us. We want to ensure that you all have the best time possible in this game and in this community.”

“As for the balance patch and the opinions surrounding it, we actively read as much as we possibly can and take what is said into consideration when we discuss things internally. Right now, the hot topic is your guys’ feedback and response to the balance adjustments and the feeling of the game experience at large.” 

He also covered the cheeky remarks from his team. “yeah, this is a horrible statement and not representing or following the studio guidelines in how to communicate. It is emotionally driven and the critiques of the balance patch were taken as a personal attack. I am extremely disappointed with the behavior.” Considering Helldivers 2’s incredible success and its troubles with scaling up to accommodate players, I expect most of the team to have had their fair share of sleepless nights.

Understandably, their team would have strong feelings about changes implemented in a game they’ve built. Both the developer and CEO have addressed it and put the matter to rest. Now get back to getting mechs for the cause, Helldiver! For more on the game, check out our Helldivers 2 weapon tier list and best stratagems. Expect mechs and vehicles to even the odds against the Terminid and Automaton threats soon.