Helldivers 2 CEO Says 'We Really Applied Ourselves to Not Make It Pay-to-Win'

[John Elden Ring]

Helldivers 2 is a $39.99 co-op shooter in which players team up to battle alien bugs and terrifying automatons. It’s gone down particularly well with players, becoming Sony’s biggest ever launch on PC after hitting at least 360,000 peak concurrent players across PlayStation 5 and Steam.

However, there is some debate about Helldivers 2’s monetisation. The game features a free and premium battle pass, both of which include items that affect gameplay. Some weapons and armour, for example, are restricted to the $9.99 premium battle pass. There are also gameplay-affecting items available for direct purchase via a virtual currency bought with real-world money. The in-game shop rotates what’s for sale each day, so there is an element of fear of missing out (FOMO) at play here.

Still, that hasn’t stopped some from suggesting there’s a whiff of “pay-to-win” about Helldivers 2. Enter Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt, who took to Twitter / X to address the concern.

“I'm partial but we really applied ourselves to not make it p2w even though items are functionally different,”

He said.

“The only item that's p2w is the revolver - which will win you any ‘cool gun’ competition. Only (minor) problem is that it's not that good.”

Then, responding to another user, Pilestedt said

:You have to earn the right to monetize." “I truly believe that,” he continued. “If people want to support this title they have an option, but we are never forcing anyone to do so.”

via iGN

 

[reziel]

If only CoD would learn from this. Good on these devs if thinking about their community and not just their wallets.

 

[Danja]

Which is how it should be. Treat gamers with respect and you'll be rewarded immensely. I hope Sony brings these guys onboard to the GaaS eventually.

And if the rumors are true Factions was originally taken down because Bungie had issues with monetization methods then this makes it even worse.

 

[Jim Ryan]

They knocked it out of the park.

 

[Eggman]

Shit sites like Eurogamer and Kotaku titled their articles after this line

"You have to earn the right to monetize."

Which is the director quoting someone else instead of focusing on what he did say

Those articles with shitty headlines were rhen posted to reddit where a bunch of goobers that didn't read the article attacked the guy since the game has monetization even after he literally explained its optional

 

[AshHunter216]

Shit sites like Eurogamer and Kotaku titled their articles after this line

"You have to earn the right to monetize."

Which is the director quoting someone else instead of focusing on what he did say

Those articles with shitty headlines were rhen posted to reddit where a bunch of goobers that didn't read the article attacked the guy since the game has monetization even after he literally explained its optional

Literally every time a Sony game does well, certain people look for ways to try and attack it.