A Helldivers 2 Xbox release is "not up to" Arrowhead but to Sony and Phil Spencer to "duke out" - but if Sony says no, that's it
It could "hypothetically" happen if "both partners think it would benefit them"
Helldivers 2 players may only be able to spread managed democracy on PC and PS5 right now, but one Arrowhead community manager says it could "hypothetically" release on Xbox at some point, too – although it won't be up to the developers.
Community manager Thomas 'Twinbeard' Petersson recently responded to a fan in the official Helldivers Discord server suggesting that an Xbox release is "never gonna happen." To this, Petersson simply says: "Who says it couldn't?"
He elaborates: "It's not up to us but to Sony and Phil [Spencer, head of Xbox] to duke out, but hypothetically speaking, if both partners think it would benefit them from a financial/brand standpoint, it could. If Sony believes it won't though, it won't."
This most likely ties into a point that Petersson reiterates in a separate thread – Sony ultimately owns the Helldivers IP. It's for that same reason that Arrowhead can't lead the charge with more Helldivers 2 merch – even though the likes of Petersson "wish there was a lot more cool stuff out there" for fans. He explains: "When it comes to legal matters and intellectual property, the brand 'Helldivers' is owned by Sony, so it's [them] who have the final say in such matters. We [of course] offer input and have discussions around it, though."
So then, it's out of Arrowhead's hands, but it's reassuring that, by the sound of it, there's no reason outright preventing a Helldivers 2 Xbox port from ever happening. For some of the more challenging Major Orders, it'd certainly be a relief to get support from another army of players, so here's hoping that Super Earth might be able to liberate Series X at some point in the future.
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I'm one of GamesRadar+'s news writers, who works alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.
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