Helldivers 2’s runaway success continues. It’s simply gained two BAFTA Sport Awards: one for Finest Multiplayer, one other for Finest Music. That’s from 5 nominations. The BAFTA wins carry to an finish a fruitful online game awards season, drawing a line beneath what has been a exceptional 12 months for Swedish developer Arrowhead.
Helldivers 2 accepts the win for Multiplayer on the #BAFTAGamesAwards ✨ pic.twitter.com/rYWwyc1KGR
— BAFTA Video games (@BAFTAGames) April 8, 2025
Let’s bear in mind, Helldivers 2 is the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios sport of all time, with an astonishing 12 million copies offered in simply 12 weeks. It’s a file no first-party Sony-developed sport will seemingly ever beat. However a lot has occurred since that preliminary explosive launch: a dramatic U-turn on PSN account necessities on Steam, review-bomb campaigns, and a neighborhood usually at struggle with Helldivers 2 itself as nerfs and buffs both went too far or not far sufficient.
By all of it, Arrowhead has struggled to address a greater, extra mainstream playerbase than it’s ever had to deal with. However now, 14 months after Helldivers 2 hit PC and PlayStation 5, how does Arrowhead mirror on what’s gone earlier than? Has it lastly began to get to grips with the brutal, unforgiving world of live-service? And after that Killzone collaboration, may Warhammer 40,000 be subsequent?
IGN sat down with Alex Bolle, manufacturing director on Helldivers 2, to discover out extra.
IGN: Congratulations on all of the awards! Once you have been within the thick of improvement and issues weren’t maybe going in addition to they may have in any other case been, did you ever think about that a 12 months after the sport got here out it might be thought of among the best video games of 2024 and win all these awards?
Alex Bolle: No, no, undoubtedly not. It is a very humbling expertise. I might say a 12 months in the past precisely, we had a trace that it might be a candy 12 months for us, however we have been additionally within the thick of it. We have been nonetheless fixing a lot of issues, getting ready our subsequent large launch for the content material. So no, undoubtedly not realizing we’d get there.
Final time we spoke, we have been getting ready Omens of Tyranny. Even then we’re like, okay, we have now The Sport Awards. We have been getting ready the entire shadow drop and every little thing. We have been prepared to make that shadow drop and be like, okay, this one goes to be enjoyable. The awards half, perhaps not that a lot.
I used to be subsequent to my launch supervisor attempting to monitor the progress of Omens of Tyranny and the entire main order with the Illuminate. And I turned my head in the direction of the TV on the workplace, it was like 2am. And I see Mikael Eriksson, the sport director, simply shaking arms with Snoop Dogg. And I am like, what’s going on right here? Which actuality are we?
So yeah, it has been good. The Golden Joysticks, DICE, all these awards, it is a great way to take a step again and take a look at the influence of the sport. We’re nearing the top of the awards season and this one feels actually good, as a result of the credibility and the celebrity of it’s simply wonderful. So yeah, it is nice. It is going to be a good addition for the group, I hope.
IGN: It has been over a 12 months because the sport got here out, so folks have had time now to mirror upon its launch and its influence. Have you ever come to perceive why it is gained so many awards, why it is achieved so properly? Why it is resonated a lot with avid gamers? Have you ever labored out why Helldivers 2 has ended up being the success it has been?
Alex Bolle: I want the interview was two hours! It is a complete soup recipe, or perhaps extra like a very subtle French dish. I do not assume we figured it out. One factor we maintain at coronary heart is simply the interplay with the neighborhood. All of the gamers, taking the time to actually speak to them, perceive what they need. Now we have so many devs which can be constantly taking a look at Discord, at Reddit. Now we have a lot of issues that come from there and we wish to maintain that interplay stage.
That has been the factor that we thought, okay, after we put together the fantasy for the subsequent updates and so on, that is the half that we wish to maintain. We have been speaking about the way forward for the sport with Mikael and it was all about that. What is it that the participant needs? What is it that we aren’t reaching but? What’s subsequent? And that is at all times like, gamers in thoughts. It is what works properly. It is the flexibility to speak to them, capacity to make that form of fantasy within the sport across the Galactic Struggle.
Final week with Pöpli IX, it has been a 12 months and we nonetheless handle to get these moments in-game. I feel it is vital. These are wanted. I used to be speaking to our Sport Grasp this morning, it feels good to have that. It is one of many issues we’ll cherish till we do not make the sport, however to this point it is working properly.
IGN: You’ve got spoken as a group earlier than in regards to the influence Helldivers 2 had on you as a studio, and it was a large shock to the system. Do you’re feeling like now you are beginning to get a deal with on what Helldivers 2 is, what the viewers is, and settling into a sustainable, wholesome manner of retaining it going as a dwell service? Particularly after having that inflow of gamers that you just weren’t maybe anticipating and the kind of gamers that have been completely different than what you have been anticipating?
Alex Bolle: We’re nonetheless attempting to determine the great recipe for a wholesome cadence for the builders, for the gamers as properly. Who can we cater to as properly? It has been tremendous fascinating. I have been at Arrowhead for a bit greater than three years now, coming from greater studios and yeah, there’s a lot of issues that we had to return to sq. one, on the way it works at Arrowhead.
Johan Pilestedt, as one among our founders and the lead of the studio for therefore lengthy, has been key in setting a improvement tradition that we strive to maintain at coronary heart whereas sustaining that dwell service side. This has been catching lightning in a bottle.
And I really feel like each week is taking learnings once more from the completely different wins and failures that we had alongside the best way. Additionally from different builders. I feel it has been one of many good benefits that we had, is that success additionally permits us to speak far more brazenly with all of the devs. It has been superb on that facet. It is sharing methods to do it, higher methods, extra sustainable.
On who can we make the sport for? That is a tough one. Arrowhead’s motto has at all times been ‘a sport for everybody is a sport for nobody.’ Once you add this quantity of gamers, nobody and everyone seems to be a bit muddy. So it is at all times a little bit of a puzzle of like, okay, this content material is for these kind of gamers, this content material is for the sort of participant. And that is the place we’re nonetheless working very laborious with PlayStation, with the group internally to perceive, hey, once you need to make this enemy, who do you keep in mind?
I feel it is a very fingertip sensitivity that we’re getting slowly. I feel there’s a lot of labor inside route as properly to remind us who we have been making the sport for on the very, very, very starting, as a result of we have now a lot of the outdated guard of Arrowhead nonetheless round to assist us determine this out. Now we have one of many options upcoming that we have been growing with one among our old-time founders for instance, and it has been so good as a result of he brings that magical angle on the co-op.
IGN: The web loves to speak about Steam concurrents, however I would really like to get your take as somebody who is aware of the information. Do you assume Steam concurrents are deceptive? Do they provide some perception into the success or in any other case of a dwell service sport? Clearly you had a enormous peak, however it’s unreasonable to count on that to preserve itself eternally, and Helldivers 2 appears to have settled on Steam. Out of your perspective, how do you view that?
Alex Bolle: I’m removed from being the professional of the studio on this. I do see typically a little bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. The extra you speak about it, the extra you present it, the extra persons are like, wow, fascinating, it is going up.
It is a metric amongst many others. There’s many causes for a sport’s success or failure. I feel we have been doing good numbers, like breaking some developments and every little thing. On our facet, the one factor I can say is that, yeah, we wish to maintain that regular flooring of gamers and bringing folks once more for brand new memorable moments for the sport and for the neighborhood. So I might say that is just about the place we wish to go. Do we have now screens throughout the studio with CCU [concurrent users] and all these metrics? After all, as a result of it is at all times good to maintain them in thoughts. However we’re not obsessed by it. I feel we’re in a place we do not have to be, however we wish to ensure that, hey, after we make one thing, it is significant. That is the factor.
IGN: No matter occurs, you will in all probability eternally now be the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios sport of all time. I can not see a sport ever actually topping that. As a studio, does that imply you could be a bit extra relaxed about what you are doing with Helldivers 2?
Alex Bolle: Sure and no. Sure, in a manner, particularly in lately for the business, it looks like such a privileged scenario. That’s wonderful. I feel we’re cherishing that a lot. On the similar time, we do not need to take this with no consideration. There’s a studio, we have now builders to pay. Now we have a studio life to carry on for years and years and years. So that is the factor the place we’re like, yeah, it has been good. We’d like to ensure that it retains going nice.
There’s additionally an accountability for, once more, the folks we make the sport for. We’re not going to simply begin to be like, okay, it is fantastic. It is going to be fantastic. We will take a bit extra time. We wish to take extra time to make issues higher, particularly now that the gamers are asking for it. However yeah, there’s undoubtedly an ambition to maintain issues going, maintain our requirements of improvement, maintain discovering creativity and innovation. If we simply grew to become complacent, I do not assume Arrowhead can be Arrowhead.
IGN: Do you assume it is affordable for a sport like Helldivers 2 to have a multi-year plan that envisages the sport being round for a decade? For me, Helldivers 2’s gameplay feels nearly timeless, so it may turn into a eternally sport. Or will there come a level the place you will have to take into consideration what’s subsequent when it comes to Helldivers itself?
Alex Bolle: Thanks for acknowledging that the sport may not age in any respect! I really like once you boot a sport after 15, 20 years and it nonetheless performs the identical.
IGN: Helldivers 2 has that about it doesn’t it? It‘s in regards to the issues that occur within the sport and the physics at play and the texture of it, as opposed to it being future-proofed when it comes to visuals, for instance.
Alex Bolle: Completely. Once I speak with the group, after I speak to the administrators, after I speak to Mikael in regards to the future, it’s thrilling as a result of we wish it to be round for years and years and years to come. And it is nearly like, how can we keep true to the Helldivers 2 fantasy, difficult sufficient that we maintain making wonderful new options and new methods and all that whereas we keep true to who we’re? And I feel it is one thing that’s so motivating for the years to come.
The extra we determine how to thrive in a dwell atmosphere, and we nonetheless have a manner to go to determine a lot of issues round that, the extra we will let creativity unfastened on new methods that we’d’ve by no means thought of a 12 months in the past after we launched. I’ve labored on dwell video games earlier than and it is the place you’re feeling like you will have one thing you may determine: what if I might do that cool factor I’ve seen in different video games and adapt it to our sauce, that also makes it true to ourselves? I am wanting ahead to this second.
IGN: You’ve achieved a Killzone collab. I am a large Warhammer 40,000 fan, and as quickly as I began enjoying Helldivers 2 I believed, oh my God, if I used to be an Imperial Guard soldier dropping down, going through off in opposition to waves of Tyranids or Necrons… are you able to give me any hope as a fan of each Helldivers 2 and Warhammer 40,000 that that is even attainable?
Alex Bolle: What I can say is that we had a blast engaged on the collaboration with Guerrilla on Killzone. One factor that everybody agreed internally is that making one thing from a completely different sport IP in our universe, that is fairly enjoyable. It has challenges as a result of once more, we’re very, very cautious about our fantasy. So we wish to give you the chance to discover these prospects. We received tremendous excited with Killzone. We wish to do extra for positive. I can not inform you extra.
Our devs are gamers, they play so many video games. Clearly Warhammer 40,000 is one thing that a lot of men internally love to loss of life. So the devs are discussing, the devs are proposing stuff, and the hype is constructing. So these are discussions internally that we’re having. Warhammer 40,000, I can not actually inform you. Possibly. Who is aware of? We’ll see!
Wesley is the UK Information Editor for IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You possibly can attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.