Helldivers 2 director confirms plans to step away from the company on sabbatical

The second in the Helldivers series released on 8th February last year, and it quickly blew up.

Within the first month, the servers couldn't handle the number of players logging in to play. Clearly the developers weren't prepared for its success.

On top of its popularity and critical adoration, it went on to win multiple awards. These include Best Multiplayer Game and Critics' Choice Award at the Golden Joystick Awards, and Best Multiplayer Game at The Game Awards.

A multiplayer game of this standard takes a lot of work to run, which explains Pilestedt's decision to take a break.

In his post on X, he said that "while you have enjoyed @helldivers2 for almost a year, I have been living it since early 2016, and with @HelldiversGame - it's since 2013".

He goes on to say that "11 years of working 'around the clock' on the same IP has made me set aside family, friends and my lovely wife... and myself".

"I am going to take some time now to redeem what was lost from all of those that supported me for over a decade," he added.

But for those worrying about Helldivers 2 in his absence, fear not.

He assures us that "my friends at @ArrowheadGS will do their utmost in the meantime to deliver amazing stuff to @helldivers2".

Check out the whole post below:

The post ends with a little tease, with Pilestedt saying: "When I'm back - I will start working on the next Arrowhead game."

Many fans will wonder what that is, or when development will begin.

While we can't answer the first question, we can share that Pilestedt's time away will be between one and five months.

He won't be gone for long, and we can't wait to see what he and the Arrowhead team will do next!

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