Helldivers 2 Creative Director takes a leave of absence to “redeem what was lost”
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Key points
- Creative Director John Pilestedt takes sabbatical after 11 years of continuous work on the Helldivers franchise.
- John Pilestedt intends to recharge and commit himself to the next Arrowhead’s next game installment.
- Pilestedt reminds himself that “the journey is sometimes the goal.”
Arrowhead Game Studios’ creative director, John Pilestedt, announced that he is taking a sabbatical after over a decade of continuous work on the Helldivers franchise. Pilestedt stated that the break will allow him to focus on personal well-being and reconnect with family and friends.
“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,” said Pilestedt.
Despite stepping away, Pilestedt reassured fans that Helldivers 2 is in good hands. He expressed confidence in Arrowhead’s team and confirmed his intention to return and begin work on the studio’s next project. As of January 28, no new title has been publicly announced.
Pilestedt’s decision comes after the massive success of Helldivers 2, which peaked at over 400,000 concurrent players and sold 12 million copies within its first three months of release. The game’s co-op missions and chaotic, RNG-driven battles managed to attract a broad audience, showing that unpredictability and yelling at your friends can lead to millions of copies sold.
To kick off his sabbatical, the creative director met up with a group of friends consisting of Arrowhead Game Studio’s most senior game developers to create, funnily enough, another video game. “The one we made… wasn’t that great. Sometimes, you’ve just got to reconnect with yourself and your bros. The journey is sometimes the goal,” he shared on X.
