Helldivers 2 is notorious for being an incredibly difficult game, with it being unrelentless at the higher difficulties, requiring players to push themselves to the limits and sweat like few games have ever required them to sweat. And honestly, that is a huge part of why the game is so much fun.
Over the past two years, with Helldivers 2 recently celebrating that milestone, the game has seen its share of ups and downs, with some updates completely breaking the game and making it unenjoyable, while others, such as the Meridia black hole Major Order, brought the community together as they saw the game change in real-time.
But, unsurprisingly, it has come to this…
What started as a fun challenge with charitable donations on the line has devolved into threats of violence and doxxing.
For those who haven’t been keeping up with the latest goings-on in the Helldivers 2 community, many players have been complaining about recent updates to the game that have seen the difficulty spike, especially when playing at difficulty 10. What was previously a grind that only the most seasoned players could successfully undertake has become nigh on impossible for even the most skilled Divers.
With it being painfully obvious in the past that the developers at Arrowhead Game Studios were barely testing their own changes before pushing out the latest patch, some players decided to call the studio out and ask them to prove that its creators were skilled enough to survive what difficulty 10 now had to offer.
U/Key_Complex_150 took to Reddit to issue a challenge to Arrowhead Game Studios to complete “an entire operation on Oshaune on difficulty 10 and completing all objectives on all three missions on the current MO.” If they were to be successful, the Reddit user offered to donate $1,000 to the charity of Arrowhead’s choosing.
U/Brainstormandtheory then issued a second challenge to add another $1,000 to the pot, requiring select devs to play the missions with set loadouts.
Arrowhead’s CEO Shams Jorjani accepted the challenge and reported his progress in real-time on the Helldivers 2 Discord as he practiced for the challenge. His latest reported progress was that he was attempting difficulty 8 with a friend saying,
“ok. finished on 7. Trying 8. the STA-11 is not amaze as a primary…. The spear is nice but the cooldown is not”
So far, this seems to be a fun story, and it is great to see Arrowhead Game Studios get on board and try to survive their own creation. Well, the internet soon did what the internet always does, and began threatening the developers over the difficulty changes, with threats of violence being made and U/Key_Complex_150 being doxxed.
This has led Arrowhead Game Studios and Sony Interactive Entertainment to release a statement addressing the threats, stating that they are monitoring the threats both internally and with external partners.
“Arrowhead Game Studios and Sony Interactive Entertainment are tracking the situation currently unfolding surrounding the Dev D10 challenge which started on Reddit.
Due to the increasing hostility in the community we need to address it directly with all of you. We do not tolerate threats of violence, harassment, or doxxing toward anyone: players, creators, developers, moderators, or our teams in any community spaces.
While we understand that /r/Helldivers is a community-owned and operated channel, it should be a safe and welcoming place for all people to voice their opinions and frustrations in a productive and respectful way. This kind of toxic behavior is unacceptable and not something we will ever condone.
We are continuing to monitor and review this situation internally and with our external partners, but in the meantime we are asking that our players practice kindness and respect towards one another.
Humans are not the enemy, Helldivers, your fight is elsewhere.“
READ MORE: Jason Momoa To Star In Helldivers Movie
It is unclear whether any threats have been serious enough to warrant law enforcement getting involved or whether it’s just mindless trolling on Reddit and social media.
Despite one small part of the community causing harm to the developers and the Reddit user that initially posted the challenge, many players have condemned them on social media.
Although there will always be a few bad apples in any community, Helldivers 2 is built around team spirit and solidarity and it has been good to see players come together and denounce the actions of those involved.
Folks, it’s a video game; it isn’t that serious. If you are getting felted by the enemies, git gud or lower the difficulty. It’s not real, it’s entertainment.
Mr. Garrison, play the triangle, holy…
