While Helldivers 2 does have microtransactions, the creative director at developer Arrowhead Game Studios has addressed how the team didn’t want to make it pay-to-win, and how games need to “earn the right to monetize” if that’s what they’re going to try and do.
Helldivers 2 creative director and Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt has talked about how the team didn’t want to make the new Steam hit pay-to-win, by balancing the microtransactions it has in the co-op game, how you get them, and respecting the players that don’t want to buy them.
“I’m partial but we really applied ourselves to not make it [pay-to-win] even though items are functionally different,” Pilestedt says on Twitter/X. “The only item that’s [pay-to-win] is the revolver – which will win you any ‘cool gun’ competition. Only (minor) problem is that it’s not that good.”
Pilestedt then goes on to explain Arrowhead’s microtransaction philosophy in a reply to his tweet, saying “‘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.”
Helldivers 2 does have a premium currency of Super Credits, that can be used on armor sets in the Superstore, but you can find them while exploring the map in missions and trade medals for them before deciding to buy them with your hard-earned cash.
If you want to squash some space bugs but aren’t sure about whether your hardware can handle it, we’ve got both the Helldivers 2 system requirements and the Helldivers 2 Steam Deck compatibility for you.
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