On the Cube Summit, Arrowhead Sport Studios gained 4 awards for its Helldivers 2 sport. The title is a superb multiplayer co-op sport the place 4 troopers land on an alien or robotic planet and attempt to take out as many enemies earlier than being extracted.
It was so fashionable when it debuted on February 8, 2024, that Stockholm, Sweden-based Arrowhead had hassle maintaining the sport out there for the tons of gamers flooding in. Throughout that point, it was robust to get an interview with just a few of Arrowhead Sport Studios’ leaders. I used to be all the time curious how the group pulled collectively and stabilized the sport amid the large recognition. The sport ultimately offered greater than 12 million copies.
However because the group gained 4 awards at Cube, they got here by the inexperienced room the place I used to be doing quick interviews with the winners. And so, I used to be capable of string collectively these questions as an interview with the winners.
They included Johan Pilestedt, chief artistic officer at Arrowhead Video games, and sport music composer Wilbert Roget II. The topics are a bit random, however I loved my chat with them. You possibly can sit up for a Helldivers film coming from Sony.
Right here’s an edited transcript of our interview.
GamesBeat: I simply interviewed some guys who’re narrative specialists, they usually say that sport builders are superior at iterating on gameplay day-after-day. However possibly within the final three months, they consider how they could design the mental property across the sport. How do you consider IP design?
Johan Pilestedt: Helldivers One already had a lot of the inspiration of what the Helldivers IP is. And actually what it comes from is that we wished to speak about totalitarian regimes. How might Germans fall for the Nazi regime again in, again within the Nineteen Thirties, and actually in Helldivers, you possibly can see it’s really easy to get swept away with it. So you must, as people residing in a society, concentrate on these tendencies of moving into that us versus them mentality. Yeah, you must problem these form of notions. So I believe for the Heller’s IP, He simply tries to do two issues, is that, after all, having an awesome, nice time taking part in the sport, however on the identical time, it ought to, the gamers themselves ought to mirror on like, proper this, although that is fantasy, this may truly occur for actual, and has occurred for actual a number of occasions
GamesBeat: Are you, as a few of us in america are, involved that democracy is at risk.
Pilestedt: I believe democracy is all the time at risk. Like if we see something from any period in historical past, there’s a tendency all the time for individuals in energy to know for extra energy and take management. I believe it’s a pure state of the world that energy type of breeds conceitedness, egoism and lust for extra energy. And folks that have energy need to keep in energy, which is harmful factor. And we the individuals, we the numerous, have the possibility to do one thing about it. But when we don’t, there’ll all the time be anyone that takes management. Have a look at the Soviet Union. You possibly can take a look at Rome when it turned from a republic to an empire. I’m not going to cross judgment on what’s occurring proper now as a result of it’s so arduous to see whenever you’re in it, and solely historical past is the true, true decide.
GamesBeat: What was that ebook you have been displaying round as you gained the music award?
Wilbert Roget II: I’m barely extra conventional than different composers. That is my rating ebook. It’s my music sketches, like notation sketches.
GamesBeat: Is it technologically unattainable to maintain a sport up and operating when you might have a preferred on-line sport?
Pilestedt: I believe it’s essentially unattainable to have a smash hit and never have your service crash. So the issue is you hope for the very best and plan for the worst. However the issue is, if you happen to’re gratuitously over scoped. it’s going to make for a not nice launch. It’s extra catastrophic as a result of you must pay for server prices up entrance. So that you all the time have to only play it as protected as attainable. However then when a smash hit occurs, it’s like unattainable to take all of that into consideration. The launch of Helldivers 2 — we now have gotten higher at it. And now we now have a neighborhood. We will have interaction it. However I keep in mind the launch day of Diablo 3, sitting there and we are able to’t get into the sport. And it’s like, if Blizzard can’t do it ….
GamesBeat: If they will’t do Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, with Azure, then it’s not technologically attainable?
Pilestedt: It’s not technologically attainable. It’s enterprise unattainable.
GamesBeat: Maybe it’s a great drawback to have. Then the extra attention-grabbing query is how do you begin restoration and get the sport again on-line?
Pilestedt: I believe it’s simply numerous arduous work. I keep in mind sitting and being on Discord, speaking to the top of backend at 4 a.m. within the morning, when persons are taking part in. And we each have this identical lovely second. We each had the identical ambition, like we have been considering if we might simply get 5 extra players in, 10 players, 20 possibly 1,000 players in — that will probably be an awesome night time for these 1,000 players sitting there making an attempt to log in.
So we’re pushing it. And ultimately we broke the complete sport, and no person might play. However I believe it embodies the Arrowhead philosophy. Can we are able to simply make different individuals’s days or lives higher — to have a cheerful day. It’s value it. Pondering like these 1,000 individuals. It may be anyone had actually shit a day, they usually simply need to attempt to play Helldivers. They usually can’t get in. It’s like you must push it. It’s really easy to take a look at consumer numbers and say, ‘Effectively, we had 800,000 concurrent gamers, and that’s an enormous quantity.’ But it surely’s an individual behind each single a kind of numbers. An individual with their very own story, their very own cause for enjoying, their very own mates and so forth. It’s essential to not simply see numbers and see individuals.
