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Shams Jorjani, CEO at Arrowhead Studios, didn't expect to bring Helldivers 2 over to Xbox, confessing recently that he and the studio were pretty surprised at having gotten the "green light" from PlayStation, the game's publisher, to appear on the rival platform.
Appearing on Christopher Dring's podcast The Game Business Show, Jorjani admits, "I'm super happy PlayStation wanted to do it. Ultimately it was their strategy, we're just along for the ride, but we're so excited to be a part of it. And it's always fun to be a part of gaming history."
According to Jorjani, the move just made sense given Helldivers 2's multiplayer trappings and presence on more than one system at launch, considering it released on both PS5 and PC at its initial launch in 2024. It helps that the Xbox launch, which appears to have done well according to Jorjani and PlayStation, coincided with a Halo-themed content drop with callbacks to the fan-favorite title Halo 3: ODST. "It turns out if you give the players what they want, they'll be happy," says Jorjani.
With plenty of content at launch, and at least a year's experience supporting a live-service title, Helldivers 2 seems to be doing swimmingly on the Xbox.
Of course, Jorjani still laments the fact that many players on the console have missed moments from Helldivers 2's player-shaped narrative. Though the studio intentionally designs around FOMO in regards to its microtransacations, much of it still comes through in the game's major story beats, which play out in a larger-than-life galactic war narrative that drives the game's action.
Talking about the "historic moments in Helldivers history," Jorjani says: "The Xbox Helldivers are coming and they've missed some of these, but they’re creating new ones together," Jorjani shares. Thankfully, as Jorjani points out, Helldivers 2 veterans are taking the fresher Xbox players under their wing and showing them the ropes, as well as letting them in on the game's rollercoaster of a narrative, which has been filled with rousing player victories as well as bittersweet community-wide losses.
He gives the example of older players informing newer ones about what happened with Malevelon Creek. "Somebody's like, 'Sit down by the fire son. I'm going to tell you what actually happened.' Then it turns out it's people’s own personal Vietnams or whatever." Trauma bonds are legit y'all, and they seem to be working in favor of Helldivers 2's burgeoning Xbox community.
