Helldivers 2's Killzone-inspired sniper "could maybe use some tweaking," creative director admits, but "weapons are what weapons are" and "balance doesn't matter"

Helldivers 2's first collaboration with Killzone didn't have the most spectacular start last month, and as the dust settles, some loyal Super Earth defenders have been left contemplating the lack of firepower for one certain crossover weapon, while the game's creative director insists that "balance doesn't matter."

The weapon in question is the PLAS-39 Accelerator Rifle – the Killzone-inspired burst fire sniper. It's far from the strongest thing in the game, to the point that some on Reddit have been questioning "why would anyone use the sniper rifle when the [PLAS-101] Purifier [exists]?" The discussion has clearly caught the attention of creative director Johan Pilestedt, who's been weighing in on the matter himself, confirming one fan's theory that "[Arrowhead] is probably making the Killzone weapons as statistically accurate to the Killzone series as possible," regardless of the impact this could have on their usefulness.

Honest question here why would anyone use the sniper rifle when the purifier exist? from r/Helldivers

Furthermore, he agrees with one player's sentiment that at the end of the day, "Not everything needs to be competitive." This could sound a little unusual – another asks why the dev team would want to have "intentionally subpar weapons clog up the weapon pool," adding: "I thought you guys learned from the 60-day patch debacle that it's good to have lots of good weapons." To this, Pilestedt argues that it's "not useless," because it still "kills things," and I guess he's not wrong there.

"Weapons are what weapons are, balance doesn't matter," he responds. "This is also what was wrong before. Things were seen as game objects rather than real weapons. If you like the [Killzone] fantasy, you may want to use it. It kills things, not useless."

Despite defending the weapon, Pilestedt admits, "It could maybe use some tweaking," but the design of the sniper naturally leaves something to be desired. "Unfortunately a three burst sniper with nine rounds per mag... isn't that great," he continues. "But that's how the weapon works."

Not every weapon can be a winner, I suppose, and as Pilestedt implies, the Killzone ones do at the very least have the added benefit of, well, being Killzone weapons, which is fun in and of itself. It doesn't sound like Arrowhead is going to be scrambling to buff this one, anyway.

Be sure to check out our guide to everything included in the Helldivers 2 Killzone crossover to see what else has been added in the shooter's first collaboration.

CATEGORIES

I'm GamesRadar+'s Deputy News Editor, working 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.