Arrowhead Learned Key Lessons From Helldivers 2's Development
While Arrowhead Game Studios continues to support its massively successful co-op shooter, Helldivers 2, the studio is also looking ahead. CEO Shams Jorjani recently shared crucial insights into the lessons learned during the development of Helldivers 2, which he believes will make the creation process for their next game much smoother.
Jorjani's comments came during a Q&A session on the official Helldivers 2 Discord server. He specifically highlighted one significant takeaway: the importance of keeping pre-production teams small. "HD2 started its journey with a large team, and it was teeeeerrible," Jorjani wrote, emphasizing the struggles faced early on.
Although Jorjani didn't go into detail about the exact nature of these difficulties or the ideal team size for early development, previous statements shed some light on the scale. At GDC 2024, Romain Lemaire, a Senior Artist at Arrowhead, revealed that approximately 20 people were initially working on Helldivers 2. This number grew significantly, reaching 105 developers by the game's release and expanding further to roughly 130 specialists by March.
The exact timeline for Arrowhead's next project remains unclear. However, toward the end of 2023, Helldivers 2's creative director, Johan Pilestedt, confirmed that the studio was already actively concepting their new game. This shift towards a more focused and agile pre-production phase suggests that Arrowhead is applying these hard-won lessons to ensure a more efficient and potentially more innovative development cycle for their future titles.
For players, this means that while Helldivers 2 continues to evolve, the experience gained by Arrowhead through its challenges will likely lead to even more polished and well-managed projects down the line. It's a testament to the studio's commitment to continuous improvement, ensuring their future games benefit from a more streamlined and effective creative process.
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