'I'll own this screwup': Helldivers 2 studio CEO apologizes for balance comments, admits fire weapon nerfs are 'disappointing after we had a similar misstep earlier'

Arrowhead's CEO apologizes for weapon nerfs and balance changes in Helldivers 2, acknowledging players' constructive feedback and the need for ongoing game evolution.

Arrowhead's CEO has said he'll "own this screwup" after comments made surrounding Helldivers 2's weapon nerfs and balance changes earlier this week.

Arrowhead announced the Helldivers 2 Freedom's Flame Warbond, which launched yesterday, August 8. As you can probably guess from the headline, it offers plenty of fire-based weapons like new flamethrowers, but just days prior, Arrowhead took significant steps to nerf fire weapons like the Incendiary Breaker in the huge Helldivers 2 Escalation of Freedom update.

At the time, Arrowhead came under scrutiny for seemingly nerfing something that people were having a lot of fun with, which is exactly what Helldivers 2's game director apologized for earlier this year. Arrowhead CEO Shams Jorjani then weighed in on the matter, revealing that the Incendiary Breaker nerf came about because roughly 30% of all Terminid-based missions saw the shotgun being used.

In a new message in the Helldivers 2 Discord channel, Jorjani has apologized for his messaging earlier this week. "I'll own this screwup. I should have provided more context behind that stat - instead of just dropping it on you. I hope for us to cover the topic more during an upcoming stream where discuss balance philosophy," Jorjani's length message began. 

"Some brief thoughts here - even though I'm not the ultimate authority on this topic. I want Johan [Pilestedt, Arrowhead COO] and Micke (our game director) to talk more about this. Is it a problem if 30% are all running the same weapon? In some ways and not in other ways. If we make something super fun and people love it it's of course a good thing. But we also want to all the stuff in the game be viable - depending on the situation (difficulty, missions, circumstances)," the Arrowhead studio CEO continued. 

Jorjani also said that if one weapon is an "omnitool" - in other words excellent in all scenarios - then Arrowhead "probably has some work to do." The studio CEO also knows that Helldivers 2 players would rather the developer buff other weapons up to the level of one overpowered weapon, rather than penalizing the latter, and "personally I like that approach," he adds.

"I will say that that approach has other consequences since systems are connected. It might/can/will lead to other parts getting knocked out of fun. Game balance is always a bit of whack-a-mole," Jorjani writes in his message. "I don't think we did as well as we hoped this time around with and it's disappointing after we had a similar misstep earlier this year. That's a failure on me - not on the the designers doing the work itself."

Jorjani then thanks players for being "very constructive and helpful in your feedback on this update." The studio CEO reveals that there are "many meetings at the studio" where "good and insightful" comments from Reddit, Twitter, and Discord have all been brought up, and that apparently helps Arrowhead "progress discussions internally," the CEO says.

"This might sound a bit silly but - Helldivers is a something that's constantly evolving. When the game is out and in your hands it starts evolving - and thus also our view of what the game IS and COULD be. We have to marry this with north stars goals we've used to guide us throughout the long development cycle. Some of those stars need to change and evolve. And I appreciate your patience with us as we keep evolving and improving Helldivers [2]," Jorjani's message concludes.

It's worth mentioning that Arrowhead will now be getting feedback in a different way - via the official Helldivers 2 player feedback form. The form just went live this week, and lets players give their thoughts on the current state of weapons, armor, Stratagems, planets, hazards, enemies, and much more, all so Arrowhead can better parse feedback.

Read up on our Helldivers 2 best weapons tier list guide after the Escalation of Freedom update.