Helldivers 2 rocked by 'rogue item' promising new Stratagems, dev tells players to avoid 'Catalog Expansion' upgrade or who knows what could happen

The Helldivers 2 community is debating the purpose of a mysterious "Catalog Expansion" upgrade that appeared in the Ship Management store. The developer, Arrowhead, has cautioned players to "avoid" the item, sparking speculation about its origin and significance. Some believe it's a cut content remnant, while others see it as a deliberate teaser. The game's satirical tone adds to the confusion, leaving players unsure if they're meant to ignore the upgrade or investigate it further.

The Helldivers 2 community is once again wrestling with the satirical tone of the game and its development team, struggling to glean legitimate information as Arrowhead cautions all democracy enjoyers to "avoid" a "rogue item" in the ship management store called "Catalog Expansion."

Earlier today, Helldivers 2 players noticed a new entry in the Ship Module section of the Ship Management terminal. The new Catalog Expansion upgrade is tied to the bridge of your ship, and its description says it brings "new Stratagem permits added to the ship management terminal for purchase."

While it's not the catalog expansion, new Helldivers 2 Ship Modules have been added, offering further improvements to certain Stratagems.

The thing is, this upgrade doesn't actually seem to exist. It's still live at the time of writing, but I've not seen any reports of anyone successfully purchasing it or noticing any other changes, plus the text for its upgrade effect is totally blank and instead just auto-fills from whatever upgrade you previously selected. It also doesn't list any affected Stratagems, so it's a bit of a dud for now. The question is, what kind of dud? A remnant of cut content, a sign of a patch still to come, a simple bug, or a deliberate teaser? 

Helldivers 2 community manager Baskinator addressed this odd outlier in a post to the game's official Discord. Her full message reads: 

"The Ministry of Truth has confirmation that a rogue item called the 'Catalog expansion' is temporarily visible in the Ship Management menu and, in accordance with regulations, we instruct all Helldivers to avoid this rogue item until further notice. The Ministry of Truth cannot confirm the reliability or safety of this item, nor can they confirm its origin."

My initial read is that this is indeed an unintended entry that somehow surfaced as a result of a recent patch. After all, it's only "temporarily" visible. Besides, players have never had to unlock new Stratagems like this, and it seems odd that such a Catalog Expansion would be locked behind three other bridge upgrades. It's entirely probable that it is simply a relic of past development ideas. But as ever, I'm not 100% confident that it's that simple. Were we never supposed to see this, or were we not supposed to see this yet? Or were we supposed to see it now and speculate in exactly this way? 

Seriously though: I think it's just a bug. 

"I can't say what the Ministry would do to Helldivers who don't follow instructions," Baskinator told one player who asked what might happen if we were, hypothetically, to instead run screaming at the Catalog Expansion upgrade instead of avoiding it. Act at your own risk, Helldiver. I won't tell Super Earth if you don't. 

If you're wondering what that satirical tone looks like when it's very obvious, well, Helldivers 2 players just got a well-deserved gift after taking out the entire Automaton faction (for now): "An extra 1-minute break," minus the time it took to read this.