Not for the first time, the Helldivers 2 community has been having a big-ol' row about the state of the game and the stewardship of developer Arrowhead. A recent uptick in concerns and complaints orbiting some YouTubers who make content about the game – many of whom recently visited Arrowhead for a feedback summit – has officially made enough noise, even bleeding into a few Steam reviews, to prompt a response from the CEO himself.
The drama itself is arguably less significant than the community response to it, but let me sum up several videos and posts' worth of complaints here.
Much of this unrest revolves around the alleged treatment of Eravin, a longtime Helldivers 2 content creator who claims he was denied entry to Arrowhead's "propaganda commanders" content creator program despite repeated, protracted responses from the devs insisting that he would be considered. In emails read aloud in a recent YouTube video, he claims he was reprimanded for briefly criticizing the studio in a livestream and pressed to be less abrasive, but was still ignored even after adjusting his content.
Alongside this, a former propaganda commander, LtBuzzLitebeer, claims he was recently kicked out of the content creator program after refusing to censor a portion of a video at Arrowhead's request. I haven't seen him specify exactly which clip was targeted, but he says it was related to his video about the game's engine and performance, as well as rumors circling them.
This alleged censorship stoked complaints that Arrowhead was squashing criticism, leading some players to liken the developer to the openly propagandist Ministry of Truth it had created in Helldivers 2 (a tad extreme, I reckon). That said, the content of the targeted clip is unclear, and if Arrowhead was trying to censor criticism among YouTubers, it's done a spectacularly terrible job of it.
The backdrop to this is the official propaganda commanders feed in the Helldivers 2 Discord, which is currently filled with Arrowhead-nominated and crossposted folks lamenting the state of the game or declaring their exits from the Helldivers world. "Everyone is quitting the game," reckons Cloud Plays. "Creators are losing hope (and quitting)," adds DjChats in a short compilation of multiple people blasting or dropping the game.
Meanwhile, folks like CommissarKai briefly dropped the game over mounting frustration with its technical issues, which have gotten so bad that Arrowhead has finally elected to delay new content in order to get the game running more smoothly. It feels like the technical issues are under the mask of this community outrage, perpetually keeping many players mildly frustrated and expectant, whereas this YouTube mess just tweaked the valve on that built-up pressure.
Arrowhead isn't required to accept anyone to its program regardless of how well-liked they may be, and it's not uncommon for content creators to face restrictions in exchange for the access that typically comes with this sort of program, but this whole mess has understandably left a sour taste in the mouths of many fans.
Tens of thousands of angry Reddit upvotes, a chorus of "It's so over" comments, and more than a few "Justice for Eravin" negative Steam reviews later (Eravin specifically asked people to not harass or "witch hunt" anyone), Arrowhead CEO Shams Jorjani acknowledged the hubbub on Discord.
Asked about "the Eravin drama," Jorjani said, "Honestly, I'm not super plugged into what's happening - focusing on other things."
One Discord user followed up, saying Eravin was "saying how AH left him on ghost for a year and were quite unprofessional." In response, Jorjani said, "One thing I'll say is that we work with a partner for the propaganda commanders. So I'll have to check in there and see what's what."
I can't help but feel that some drama over YouTubers has gotten out of hand – and again, I think it's more a reflection of broader discontent in the Helldivers 2 community – but if the CEO is seemingly kicking the can to an apparent social or community partner, I suppose it is A Thing.
