Helldivers 2 devs remain “committed” to avoiding Call of Duty’s biggest sin following Killzone crossover

Helldivers 2 has been one of the best games of the year, and Arrowhead are really ending 2024 with a bang. Not only did they stealth drop vehicles and a new Urban Legends Warbond following The Game Awards, but they have now just released part 1 of a crossover with Killzone. This is the game’s first collaboration, and the good news is that, following the Killzone crossover, Arrowhead remain “committed” to not repeating the mistakes of Call of Duty for Helldivers 2.

As mentioned, part 1 of the Killzone crossover is out now with part 2 planned for December 23rd. Unfortunately, for Killzone fans, this is as close to a new game as you’re going to get as Guerrilla are “done” with the franchise as they prefer working on Horizon instead.

While the release of the Killzone crossover is great, Helldivers 2 players shouldn’t expect an overabundance of collaborations as Arrowhead don’t want to betray the game’s aesthetic.

Helldivers 2 devs remain “committed” to avoiding Call of Duty crossovers

One of the biggest problems with modern Call of Duty in the eyes of many fans is the collaborations with IPs and celebrities that don’t fit the series’ aesthetic. Examples include the addition of celebrities such as Nicki Minaj and crossovers with IPs such as He-Man.

There are crossovers with IPs that don’t naturally align with Call of Duty that fans don’t loathe as much such as Tomb Raider and horror movies for Halloween, but for the large part there is a growing consensus amongst the community that CoD has become too much like Fortnite.

Fortunately, this won’t be happening with Helldivers 2. On the series’ official Discord, a player asked community manager, miitchimus, “if the devs at Arrowhead were making sure that the collabs are not going to interfere with the aesthetic and world building of the game”.

To this, the community manager assured players that “We [Arrowhead] are still very committed to making sure collabs stay in tune with Helldivers”. This means Arrowhead “won’t be doing just any” crossover, no matter the popularity of the IP such as Star Wars.

Arrowhead has previously rejected the idea of a crossover with Star Wars for HD2 as it wouldn’t make sense. As for which crossovers the developer is open to, Arrowhead CCO and Helldivers 2 creative director, Pilestedt, has said a collaboration with Trench Crusade would be the “sickest thing imaginable“.

Shams Jorjani, Arrowhead CEO, has also previously said “Alien seems like a pretty good theme,” and they mentioned “Bringing in the Zerg from Starcraft would be good, and bringing in Terran Marine weapons would be good too. Something like a Gauss rifle”.

For more Helldivers 2, check out our guide to the best warbonds ranked, along with the best stratagems and best throwables. We have also a guide to the best weapons, and, if you’re coming back to HD2 for the first time in a long while, we have a bunch of tips and tricks to help you get reaccustomed to the battlefield.