Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has outlined how it attempts to balance monthly live service drops of Warbonds alongside the ongoing bug fixes a game like this needs, saying it’s “difficult to maintain our cadence” due to things like the relatively small size of the team.
As a live service game, Helldivers 2 is constantly having to balance itself between consistent content updates and equally dependable bug fixes. Throw the massive and instant popularity of the game into the mix, and you’ve got a co-op game cocktail I don’t envy seeing Arrowhead drink in one go. Making games is hard, alright.
To that end, one Arrowhead community manager talks about the difficulties of managing the release schedule of one Warbond a month alongside constant bug fixes, with the team’s small size (relative to the game) making it an uphill battle.
“Most of the bugs in the known issues list in patch-notes-updates are actively being worked on, but they’re either large fixes that require a bit of time or low-priority issues behind other things, and most should be patched in the next major build,” associate community manager ‘Spitz’ says in the Helldivers 2 Discord. “It’s difficult to maintain our cadence of one Warbond per month while also fixing major technical glitches in time for the next patch.”
This comment from Spitz was then shared in the Helldivers 2 subreddit, where one user alludes to the idea that Arrowhead has multiple teams for Warbond creation and bug fixes, which Spitz then goes on to debunk.
“Curious to hear from the crowd that adamantly declares devoting manpower to bug fixes had no impact on content releases every time this question is presented,” the user says. “That being said, technical issues should be the priority, above all else.”
“This is patently untrue,” Spitz explains. “Arrowhead still has a very small team compared to the success of the game, and while we have dedicated QA, the people fixing bugs with weapons and armor, for example, are the same people in charge of making new weapons and armor.
“It’s important to us to maintain the cadence that we promised – one Warbond per month – but equally important to everyone to fix the glaring bugs and technical issues. There’s just only so much time in a work week.”
So the size of Arrowhead Game Studios is coming up against the colossal popularity of Helldivers 2 itself, with Spitz making it clear that the team is constantly trying the balance the promised monthly Warbonds with big bug fixes, all from a small team.
We’ve got all the Helldivers 2 Warbond details you need alongside the best Helldivers 2 stratagems to help you out as well. Otherwise, you’ll want to check in on the Helldivers 2 servers to make sure they’re running well.
You can also follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides, or grab our PCGN deals tracker to net yourself some bargains.
