Helldivers 3 is not in any plan developer Arrowhead has right now, the studio’s CEO has confirmed. Instead, it wants Helldivers 2 to keep going for years and years, like veteran MMO RuneScape.
Jagex’s fantasy MMO RuneScape began life as a browser game an incredible 25 years ago. It’s had over 300 million accounts since, and is still going strong today.
So, rather than follow Helldivers 2 with Helldivers 3, as the video game industry would perhaps expect, Arrowhead wants to follow RuneScape’s lead.
As spotted by GamesRadar, Arrowhead CEO Shams Jorjani clarified the studio’s plans in a post on Discord. “We have no plans for HD3,” he said, “just HD2 for as long as it can go. Think RuneScape.”
The idea of a Helldivers 3 had come up recently when Jorjani said a social hub space like the Tower in Destiny was “on the feature list for the next one.” But he later clarified that he was talking about Arrowhead’s next game, not a Helldivers 2 sequel.
His latest comment is consistent with prior statements on the studio’s plans. Jorjani has in the past said Arrowhead hopes to build upon Helldivers 2 to such an extent that it basically becomes a Helldivers 3, but that was clearly figuratively speaking.
“Myself and the directors agree we would love this to be a forever game,” Jorjani added in another Discord post. “Assuming we get a grip on the performance and dev practices we can keep expanding it for a long time. PlayStation is super supportive.”
Jorjani’s comments shouldn’t come as a surprise. The studio has indicated it plans to support Helldivers 2 for years to come, and only recently launched the Sony-published game on Xbox Series X and S and the Into the Unjust update, which added Hive Worlds.
In April, Helldivers 2 production director Alex Bolle told IGN “we want it to be around for years and years and years to come.”
“And it’s almost like, how do we stay true to the Helldivers 2 fantasy, challenging enough that we keep making amazing new features and new systems and all that while we stay true to who we are?” he continued. “And I think it’s something that is so motivating for the years to come.
“The more we figure out how to thrive in a live environment, and we still have a way to go to figure out a lot of things around that, the more we can let creativity loose on new systems that we would’ve never thought about a year ago when we released. I’ve worked on live games before and it’s where you feel like you have something you can figure out: what if I would do this cool thing I’ve seen in other games and adapt it to our sauce, that still makes it true to ourselves? I’m looking forward to this moment.”
So, while Helldivers 3 isn’t happening, more Helldivers stuff very much is. In January, Sony announced that Helldivers 2 was being adapted into a film as part of a collaboration between Sony Productions and Sony Pictures. No other details were offered.
Helldivers 2 is the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game of all time with an incredible 12 million copies sold in just 12 weeks. Check out IGN’s review of Helldivers 2 on Xbox Series X and S to see what we think of the game as it is today.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
