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Helldivers 2 has had an astonishing year.
Bolle wastes few words.
“A rollercoaster,” he says.
“It’s very high highs, very low lows.”
But it’s Eriksson who really seems to embrace the chaotic ups and downs that Arrowhead has been through.
I feel lucky to be on this ride with everyone.
Not all studios, not all games, have this privilege.
And so I’m super grateful for that."
For Super Earth
It’s certainly true that not all games have this kind of journey.
Relatively few people myself included expected Helldivers 2 to be the breakout phenomenon it proved to be.
Plenty of games falter despite optimal launch windows or thrive during busy periods.
For Eriksson, Helldivers owes its success to a couple of other factors.
Otherwise it doesn’t matter when you release anything."
Regardless, it’s clear that even Arrowhead didn’t quite know what it had on its hands.
“She said something like ‘what’s your scenario planning for launch?
Have you prepared for a major hit?”
Fast-forward a few weeks, and the team found itself dealing with 800,000 concurrents instead.
“We had not prepared for that,” Eriksson says.
We were believers, but we were surprised and shocked by the reception."
That reception comes with a financial windfall.
We kept the same culture.
We really kept the Arrowhead way."
Those scars, however, are something that Eriksson seems almost proud of.
“I think life should be interesting,” he says.
“I think life should be like living through an interesting book.
“But with Helldivers, people have brilliant ideas.”
Both hit back with a confident ‘yes’.
“We do feel a lot more confident,” Eriksson says.
Internally, process[es]— and sometimes staff were simply missing.
Those kinks seem to have been ironed out.
But that doesn’t mean that the studio is done taking big swings.
And we’re super committed to keeping the ride going for as long as we can.”
