Arrowhead CEO reassures Helldivers 2 players in the wake of Johan Pilestedt’s sabbatical that if they can keep the game ‘going for 10 years, we will’

Helldiver’s 2’s former CEO, now CCO, made headlines earlier this week—including ours—by announcing he’d be on a sabbatical following years of hard work.

As for why that’s a big deal, well, Pilestedt has been particularly vocal as far as creative leads and directors go, speaking directly to the people on game balance, review controversies, and early-day spats between developers and players. He’s also been a bit of a scamp, leaning into the setting’s appetite for propaganda by denying the existence of flying bugs and the like even as players get turned into democratic mincemeat by them.

Essentially, he’s become a bit of a central figure in the fanbase, and folks are sad to see him go, even on a temporary basis. The game’s current CEO, Shams Jorjani, has been quick to reassure players that it’s not going to be forever, responding to players on the game’s Discord server (thanks, GamesRadar):

“Johan is just on an extended vacation. He’s never been on a proper vacation since the company was founded,” Jorjani explains. “We get 6 weeks of vacation per year—most swedes take 4 weeks off in the summer. He’s never done that. He’s got like 65 days saved up or something. He’s just beat.”

In other words—he’s just taking a bit of a holiday, and everybody can relax: “When he’s back he’ll keep being the grandfather and sounding board for Helldivers, and get going with a new project in due time.”

As for supporting the game, Jorjani says it’s mostly up to the player’s interest, but as long as folks want to shoot bugs in the face, they’ll keep inventing new ways to do just that. “As long as people play, pay, and we can build a business case around it, we’ll support it to hell and back. If we can keep it going for 10 years we will.”

As a matter of fact, Jorjani seems pretty insistent that—given the time, funding, and legacy—a third game might not even be necessary. When asked whether supporting Helldivers 2 would mean canning a Helldivers 3, Jorjani writes: “Compare Helldivers today to when it launched. It’s so, so much more. Now imagine Helldivers in three years. Tell me how that’s different from a hypothetical ‘Helldivers 3’.”

The man has a point, sort of—the leap from Helldivers to its sequel was mainly notable because of the perspective change, flipping from an isometric shooter to a third-person bombfest. There’s really no other ways to shake things up that’d justify a sequel, in my opinion, other than some revolutionary leap in 4D technology so I can feel what it’s like to get killed by my mate’s laser drone in real life.

Helldivers 2 has had an impressive first year, too: A bunch of new weapons to muck around with, some revolutionary balance changes, new enemy types, and a whole new faction to turn into liberty mulch. If Arrowhead manages to keep that momentum for another three, I’m not even sure what I’d be looking at. Maybe Hatsune Miku will be there, anything’s possible.