Helldivers 2 players overwhelmingly vote to rename a city "GUN," Arrowhead CEO says he hoped for "something else" but "the people have spoken"

A Helldiver waves a flag while looking down at a battlefield in a screenshot from Helldivers 2's Masters of Ceremony trailer.
(Image credit: PlayStation Studios / Arrowhead Game Studios)

You've probably heard the phrase "managed democracy" thrown around a lot in conversations about Helldivers 2, but this latest decision from the community seems more like what happens in a chaotic democracy, where the meme is supreme.

Helldivers 2 players recently gathered to rebuild the city of Remembrance in the devastating wake of their ultimately successful Galactic War against the Illuminate, and to reward their efforts, Arrowhead opened up a poll on the game's official Discord to decide what the rebuilt city will be named.

The options were New Remembrance, which is quite apt, Everlasting Memory, Peacebeacon's Bloodlight, Winds of Change of Tides of War, which is horrendous, and Gun. Yep, just Gun, the throwaway meme option some goofball at Arrowhead probably came up with at the last moment. And can you guess what a group of gamers came together to overwhelmingly vote on?

Why, New Remembrance, of course! It's clean, it's simple, it gets the job done, and it's respectful of the original Super Earth city's legacy. Nope. They picked Gun, because of course they did. In fact, Gun got an overwhelming 72% of the vote with more than 85,000 votes.

I'll admit, I laughed. I'm not surprised, but it is amusing to think the official name of a Helldivers 2 city will just be GUN. But what makes this at least 10% funnier is an exchange between Arrowhead CEO Shams Jorjani and a player from the game's discord.

The player asked, "Is gun city real?" and Jorjani replied, "I really don't know where we are with that. I personally hope we go the managed democracy route and pick something else ... but the people have spoken."

Helldivers 2 Discord screenshot

(Image credit: Discord)

I just love the thought of Jorjani assembling the Helldivers 2 development team into a meeting room with a sorrowful expression on his face and the results of the poll in his hands. They picked Gun, y'all. They picked Gun. Meeting adjourned.

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Jordan Gerblick

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.

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