95% of studio still on Helldivers 2, with a "small team" on the next game
Arrowhead Game Studios will only make a Helldivers 3 if it's lightyears apart in style from Helldivers 2, or if Helldivers 2's playercount falls through the floor. This is my takeaway, at least, from a recent chat with Johan Pilestedt, chief creative officer, in which Pilestedt touched briefly on the studio's next unannounced game, while assuring me that there are still no plans for a Helldiver threequel.
According to Pilestedt, 95% of the studio is focused on Helldivers 2, with a "small team" now prototyping Arrowhead's next game. They currently have around 150 people on the books. "Studio-wise, we want to grow on our own terms and know when to stop," Pilestedt commented over email, noting that "plenty of teams hit big and immediately double their size".
As for the prospect of Helldivers 3, Pilestedt is wary of dividing the audience while Helldivers 2 still has a following, commenting that "for now, my view is that a sequel resets everything and forces players to start over", whereas "a continuation turns the game into a lifelong hobby, like LEGO or Warhammer". In what probably isn't a sign that he's getting David Lynch to direct the next Warbonds video, he framed Helldivers 2 "as a 'third space,' a community where people can spend a huge amount of their time, but equally one that players can go away from for months or years and still find fun and community when they come back." For context, Helldivers 2's Steam live playercount as of writing is 47,097, which isn't chart-topping but seems fairly respectable for a two-year-old game; this doesn't include console players, of course.
"Some studios can treat players like a short-term cash grab," Pilestedt went on. "We see players as the actual engine of the game: they're the ones bringing in friends, making memes, and keeping the game alive. When you have an active community doing that, you don’t need a sequel.
"The industry is panicking because the old live-service tricks don’t work anymore," he said. "And the biggest competitor to a Helldivers 3 would be Helldivers 2. It only makes sense to make a distinct sequel if it’s so different that both games can exist side by side. For now, making Helldivers 2 better every day makes way more sense than throwing away its momentum."
Pilestedt didn't spell out what he meant by the industry panicking, but I assume he's referring to all the live service game cancellations of late. 'Live service' in general – aka, turning games into platforms from which 'rents' can be extracted, be it an optional cosmetic purchase or a subscription - has become something of a cussword among players who'd rather their games were less online, habit-forming and, well, landlordy.
The intrigue here, for me, is just how different Helldivers 3 would need to be to stand apart from its predecessor. Helldivers 2 is a very different game from the original Helldivers, swapping the old top-down view for third-person gunnery with a greater emphasis on physics and credible weapon handling. Where should they go next?
I'm not sure Helldivers would be entertaining as a first-person shooter – so much of the game's beguiling daftness depends on seeing your character. I could well imagine a Helldivers RTS, but that'd probably be a spin-off project. There are other directions they could take within the third-person shooter genre that might change the feel while supporting the game's brash and callous dystopian humour. God, I almost typed the words "Helldivers battle royale" there. Close one!