Johan Pilestedt, the CCO of the studio behind Helldivers 2, announced on May 22nd that he would be shifting his duties from being the CEO of Arrowhead Game Studios, to becoming their new CCO instead. The main reason for this, according to Johan, was so that he could be more creative in his new role, rather than the business side of things taking too much of his time and energy.
In the same X thread where he made the initial announcement, he also talked about how he responds and reviews player feedback in answer to a question from another user.
Johan Pilestedt Has a Theory to Fix Helldivers 2’s TTK complaints
One of the biggest complaints of Helldivers 2 recently has been its time to kill (TTK), which is calculated based on the time it takes to kill an enemy in the game, provided that you are shooting at it continuously without missing any shots.
Replying to the initial question about how he and the team take player feedback into consideration, he states that the most important thing is to have the developers on the team play the game for a sufficient amount of time. This is done so that the developers and the players are in the same lane, recognize the same issues, and try to deal with them in the same way.
It doesn't have to be easier. It's just that the weapons occasionally feel like pea shooters
— Pilestedt (@Pilestedt) May 22, 2024
Once both of them see eye to eye, the next step is to look at these problems as a whole, in terms of the grand scheme of things, rather than individually or in parts. It’s important for the developers to understand why certain feedback is given in the first place.
It doesn't have to be easier. It's just that the weapons occasionally feel like pea shooters
— Pilestedt (@Pilestedt) May 22, 2024
Responding to another question about long-term content updates, Johan replied saying that it’s important to create not just new content, but long-lasting content specifically.
"And my working theory is that TTK is too high."
Dude, THIS is it. You fucking nailed it.
— Manaaaaaa (@ManaOnline_) May 22, 2024
Another user said that the TTK is actually fine and argues the opposite: that higher TTK makes for more challenging and difficult battles. To this, Johan replied stating that the change in TTK doesn’t have to make the game easier, but rather make sure that the guns don’t feel like pea shooters.
Johan Recently Talked About Stepping Down as CEO, and his Hopes for Arrowhead Game Studios
Johan announced on X on May 22nd that he was leaving the role of CEO to take on the role of CCO instead, in order to concentrate more on the creative aspects of Helldivers 2 and the studio, citing corporate and business burnout as a major motivator. As the new CEO and a friend and former colleague of Johan, Shams Jorjani assumed all of the correlating duties.
Johan stated in a recent interview with GamesIndustryBiz that appointing a dedicated CEO will give the company the structure and guidance it needs while freeing him up to focus more on his love of making video games.
Johan expressed in the same interview his hopes for the studio to grow to the size of Blizzard or FromSoftware in the future, particularly in terms of overall legacy and game quality. He encourages people to dream about working at the studio, just as he did with Blizzard in the past.
What do you think about the TTK argument for the game? Should it be lowered or not? Let us know in the comments below!
