Update - September 9: Arrowhead Game Studios CEO Shams Jorjani has clarified recent comments regarding possible social features for a future Arrowhead game, confirming that he was discussing the studio's next game and not the presumed (and implied) Helldivers 3.
In a recent Reddit reply, the CEO said: "This was about our next game. Not HD3."
This followed a Discord exchange that saw Jorjani respond to a player who was hoping to see a Destiny-style social hub in "the next game" from Arrowhead, assuming it's "probably never gonna be a thing in [Helldivers 2]".
Jorjani said this style of social hub is "on the feature list for the next one," leading many to believe that Helldivers 3, "the next game" in the studio's flagship series, could integrate such a feature.
The CEO's latest response suggests we can actually expect a different game to release before a potential Helldivers 3. Naturally, the conversation has shifted to a new question: what is that "next game," Arrowhead? And is it Magicka?
Original story: Freedom fighters, I come bearing good news and bad news: Starting with the bad news, the Destiny 2-style social hub you've all been asking for is probably never coming to Helldivers 2. The good news is Arrowhead has seemingly confirmed the massively unsurprising news that Helldivers 3 will eventually be a thing, and that a social hub is on the "feature list" for a potential sequel.
As captured in a Reddit thread, Arrowhead CEO Shams Jorjani recently responded to a player request for "a social hub space station (like the tower in Destiny.)"
For the uninitiated, social hubs are super common in online games, and in particular MMOs like Destiny, Final Fantasy 14, and Guild Wars 2. Sometimes, they're dedicated centralized hubs designed to host aimless wanderers looking to show off their new gear or buy stuff, and other times they're just ordinary in-game cities people like to frequent, like Moonglow in Ultima Online (I am one thousand years old.)
helldiversfrom r/Helldivers/comments/1nbmucr/helldivers_3_will_get_social_hubs_feature
Anyway, don't expect the same sort of thing to come to Helldivers 2 any time soon... or ever. Jorjani replied to the fan request for a social hub by saying, "It's on the feature list for the next one," seemingly referring to Helldivers 3.
"See you in 6 years in HD3," reads the Reddit thread's top comment which has more than 400 upvotes. "That's an optimistic prediction," reads a reply with almost 200 upvotes.
Realistically, with just how massively successful Helldivers 2 has been, you can just about bet your life savings on there being a sequel of some form eventually. When that'll be is anyone's guess, especially with successful live-service games often stretching into decades of active development, but we already know one thing about it: it'll probably have a social hub where you can celebrate wins and mourn losses with your fellow Super Earth defenders.
