Helldivers 2 dev in "crisis mode" as matchmaking problems hit the co-op shooter's launch, CEO says "we are seeing the issues" and advises joining friends directly

A group of Helldivers assemble in some art work for Helldivers 2 — (Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)

Helldivers 2 has launched to server and matchmaking issues, but its developers are hard at work on fixing the new co-op shooter.

Arrowhead Game Studios just launched Helldiver 2 on PS5 and PC earlier today, February 8. Things aren't going as planned for the multiplayer shooter, however, as it's launched to a bevy of server and matchmaking issues, as well as crashes and instances of players getting stuck in menus.

Now, Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt has taken to the game's official Discord server to pen a message to players. "Hey everybody! It's been a bit of crisis mode in the studio today therefore I have not been as active as I would have liked," the CEO wrote.

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"We are seeing the matchmaking issues as well as some of the unfortunate stuck on login screen/crashes. I just wanted to let you all know we're working as hard as we can on resolving these, the volume of players exposed some shenanigans in the system that went past many, many, many hours or testing," Pilestedt continued.

"We have tried resolving it on the backend only but it seems like we will have to patch the game to resolve the issue. Sorry for this and thank you for your patience. For now I recommend to team up with people from the community as joining friends work fine. I hope you are enjoying the experience once you get into the game."

At the time of writing, Helldivers 2 has actually just been taken offline entirely, with servers seemingly being temporarily taken down for emergency maintenance. Right now, there's no word from Arrowhead Game Studios as to when the game's servers will be back online.

There's been a lot of discussion, around the game's subreddit in particular, as to whether there's anything players can do to improve the situation, like disabling crossplay between PC and PS5. There hasn't been a consensus on whether this actually does anything, but you can read our Helldivers 2 crossplay guide if you fancy taking your chances with a temporary fix.

Keep an eye on our upcoming PS5 games guide for a look over all the other console exclusives Sony has set for this year.

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.