As expensive Killzone skins whip the Helldivers 2 community into a tizzy, Arrowhead CEO Shams Jorjani is doing damage control on Discord, admitting the pricing missed the market and pledging vague changes.
In case you missed it, Helldivers 2 is doing its first big crossover with a bunch of cosmetics inspired by Killzone, specifically the villainous Helghast faction with their distinctive helmets and weaponry.
So that's the good news, but the bad news is that the cosmetics are on the pricier side. The skins are up for purchase in a new tier of premium content on the Superstore reserved for crossovers like this one as well as other "uniquely-themed work." Basically, Arrowhead's first crossover is keeping in trend with other live-service collaborations in pricing them markedly higher than other, standard cosmetics.
Specifically, the full Helldivers 2 Killzone crossover bundle includes the StA-52 Assault Rifle, AC-1 Dutiful Helmet, AC-1 Dutiful Armor, Strength In Our Arms Cape, Strength in Our Arms Player Card, and Assault Infantry Title for 1,975 Super Credits, which is just under $20 and half the price of the full game. The assault rifle itself costs 615 credits, so right around $6 or $7. You probably won't be surprised to hear players are pretty peeved about the prices, so much so that it got Jorjani's attention.
"Hey - quick comment on the Helghast stuff," Jorjani said as his first comment in a conversation that continued on and off almost all of Wednesday on the official Helldivers discord.
"Firstly - this is our first collaboration so we'll be figuring it out as we go along. Let us know what you'd like to see in the future. Secondly it's optional - the more of this we sell - the more illuminate type stuff we can keep dropping for free."
The CEO took a fair bit of heat for that comment, but things steadily improved as he clarified his stance in later comments. Jorjani confirmed that "100% of the studio" was aware of the backlash to the crossover pricing and that the issue was discussed at the company's monthly townhall on Wednesday.
Jorjani said he couldn't share any specifics, but assured Arrowhead is "looking at data (how well is it selling), is it being used, and comments here and in social media to get a sense of what the gripes (we get a lot of different feedback)" so that it can "asses what change would get what impact for future stuff."
"Clearly we'd love to find the sweet spot of people loving the content AND the price and buy the bajeesus out of it," he said. "This clearly didn't hit that mark."
It's very unlikely that any of this will lead to any changes in the current crossover, which ends on December 23 before transitioning into part two with a new selection of cosmetics as well as a secret reward that'll be based on player success in the Galactic War. That said, it does sound like Jorjani is taking the feedback to heart.
"My man, running a game like this is hard. We've never managed or run a big live service game before," he said in a reply to another player. "The last release Arrowhead had was in 2015 and the studio was much smaller. We're doing our best. Sometimes we fumble. I think we've shown that we will persevere and improve things in due course. I understand you'd like us to never fumble - but I can't promise you we'll hit our mark every time."
