Helldivers 2’ creative director says games have to ‘earn the right to monetize’ with microtransactions

Helldivers 2, the surprise mega-hit of Arrowhead Game Studios and Sony that is now available on PlayStation 5 and PC, has been having both an amazing and a terrible time since release. The development team has been dealing with server issues, caused by a massive influx of players wanting to get into the galactic war. But some have pointed out at underlying problems like its DRM system and purchaseable gear.

While the DRM has been explained by a secret feature they never revealed until launch, the microtransaction part of the game has been tagged as “pay-to-win” tactics that players mostly feel negative about. However, the creative director and CEO of the studio Johan Pilestedt has stated that they took great care not to fall into other games’ mistakes with microtransactions.

“We really applied ourselves to not make it p2w even though items are functionally different. The only item that’s p2w is the revolver—which will win you any ‘cool gun’ competition,” said the CEO on Twitter/X. In a different response, he said that “You have to earn the right to monetize’—I truly believe that. If people want to support this title they have an option, but we are never forcing anyone to do so.”

The revolver mentioned by the director is a special weapon that can be bought using a premium currency, or by buying a “Steeled Veterans Warbond” battle pass, which was only announced closed to the game’s release. However, it’s been found that you can actually earn this premium currency in-game, even earning it by progressing a free version of the battle pass.

As for the “pay-to-win” weapon, it turns out that it was designed to be cool-looking, but not the most powerful of its type in the game. In fact, there are other unlockables that are way more powerful or have more utility in the title’s missions.

Helldivers 2 co-director previously wrote on their steam page about how they were approaching the monetization of the game: “This is important to us: the Warbonds are NOT a pay-to-win, FOMO-driven system. Instead, the gear in the Warbonds just keeps accumulating. We will not retire earlier Warbonds as new ones are released—you can pick them up and complete them at any time.” Unlike many other “live-service” titles, they don’t want to make people feel left out of the content they aim to produce.

Helldivers 2 is now available on PlayStation 5 and Steam.