Through all of its many ups and downs, Helldivers 2 has remained steadfast in its insistence on being the go-to tactical horde shooter. That’s in no small part due to its singular vision, which the former CEO and CCO Johan Pilestedt maintained. Now, though, he’s off the project.
The silver lining is that Pilestedt isn’t suddenly the centerpiece of a workplace drama. Instead, he’s simply decided to take a sabbatical and do his own thing for a while. This may come as a big surprise to Pilestedt’s many fans, as with the game’s community, even when the going was tough. With that in mind, while it’s plainly obvious that Helldivers 2 has been a team project from the very start, it was people such as Johan Pilestedt who brought the player base together, helping them weather whatever storm might’ve been cooking at any given time.
Johan Pilestedt is leaving Helldivers 2 for a sabbatical, moving onto other projects
“11 years of working “around the clock” on the same IP has made me set aside family, friends, and my lovely wife… and myself,” said Pilestedt in his recent Tweet. “I am going to take some time now to redeem what was lost from all of those that supported me over a decade.”
Pilestedt hasn’t revealed how long his sabbatical might take, but he has confirmed in no uncertain terms that his work on Helldivers 2, specifically, is done: “When I’m back – I will start working on the next Arrowhead game,” he said. If you were hoping he’d take over from whoever the acting CCO might be in the interim, it doesn’t seem this will be the case at all.
Considering just how eventful things have been for Arrowhead from the day of Helldivers 2‘s release, it shouldn’t come as too big of a surprise that Pilestedt might wish to leave the project behind. And on that note, while it’s certainly easy to forget that Arrowhead’s got a bunch of other IPs in tow, that is very much the case. I myself am hoping to see a revival of Magicka, for one, though the title itself is probably going to be a no-go, as it’s now under Paradox Interactive’s control.
It should come as no surprise that there’s some uncertainty in the Helldivers 2 community over this decision:
Pilestedt has been very clear in his post that he’s got no intention of coming back to Helldivers 2, and so the community is bound to be particularly mindful of that fact moving forward. Arrowhead might be hard-pressed to find someone else to fill Pilestedt’s shoes as far as how personable the man’s been, but it is what it is.
For what it’s worth, after Pilestedt left the position of Arrowhead CEO to take the reigns as Helldivers 2 CCO, specifically, the new CEO Sha𝓰ms Jorjani found his footing reasonably quickly. He’s not quite as popular with the community as Pilestedt has been, of course, but it’s entirely possible he might choose to position himself as the next public Arrowhead personality that players can rally behind.
Published: Jan 28, 2025 06:04 am