After a huge launch on Xbox, Helldivers 2 sold over 920,000 copies in its first week, surpassing its debut numbers on PlayStation. Following that success, Game Director Mikael Eriksson sat down for an interview on the game’s official YouTube channel to discuss performance, the current state of the game, and what comes next.
While some fans might be disappointed that Arrowhead isn’t focusing on new content right now, Eriksson reassured players that the decision is for the best. He acknowledged that Helldivers 2’s performance “leaves a lot to be desired,” and after playing on Xbox myself, I can confirm it’s still far from perfect.
Arrowhead presses pause to fix Helldivers 2’s performance
Eriksson has directly acknowledged performance issues following the most recent Into the Unjust update, citing problems beyond framerate stutters, including crashes, bugs, and general jank during gameplay.
It hasn’t just been Arrowhead that’s noticed, either. Many players have taken to the game’s Discord to voice their frustrations — something Eriksson believes is justified and being taken seriously. He said:
After the last big update Into the Unjust, we experienced more issues than we were comfortable with, and the players felt it — we felt it.
Mikael Eriksson - Game Director of Helldivers 2
However, issues on consoles may take longer to resolve. Eriksson explained:
Improving the FPS on the various consoles… that’s more tricky. We have our top brains thinking about this, not me, but other people.
Mikael Eriksson - Game Director of Helldivers 2
Fortunately, he added that improvements are already being made and that he’s confident the team will get there, and the full interview does dive into much more detail for those interested, it can be checked out above or here.
Why stability matters more than new content right now
Helldivers 2 is good fun, and Xbox fans are clearly enjoying it. I personally welcome that Arrowhead is prioritizing the game’s performance, as these improvements will eventually trickle down to devices like the Steam Deck, the Xbox Ally, and the upcoming Ally X — all of which can struggle to run Helldivers 2 comfortably in its current state.
It’s not the first time Arrowhead has addressed Steam Deck performance. CEO Shams Jorjani previously said on the official Discord:
We want to primarily get the game working well on the sys requirements we target. If we make that happen, Steam Deck will improve as well. Then we might consider formally supporting it more.
Shams Jorjani - CEO at Arrowhead
Returning to the interview with Mikael Eriksson, he made it clear this decision comes down to prioritizing quality over quantity:
“We have made the decision to push some of our content and feature updates a little bit into the future while we’re addressing these things.”
It’s encouraging to see Arrowhead committed to making Helldivers 2 as enjoyable as possible across every system, rather than chasing flashy updates. It’s a refreshing contrast to games that neglect optimization and rely on technologies like FSR or DLSS just to maintain playable performance.
A promising future for Helldivers 2
Helldivers 2 saw a strong start when it first launched and an equally impressive second wind when it arrived on Xbox. I’m hopeful Arrowhead can deliver on its optimization promises, and I can only hope that once these improvements are complete, the studio revisits features like cross-progression and cross-saves — something it has previously dismissed.
It would also be great to see Arrowhead explore an eight-player mode, something the CEO has previously commented on, saying:
“8 players is technically very challenging, but it would be cool and messy.”
Another feature fans continue to ask for is split screen, which the studio has described as “technically feasible.” As someone who grew up playing Halo in split screen, that’s the feature I’d personally love to see the most.
While the game recently became available through Xbox’s Stream Your Own Game feature, it would be great to see it added to Xbox Play Anywhere as well, especially if these performance fixes make it more stable on devices like the Xbox Ally and Ally X.
I’m fully on board with Arrowhead shifting focus away from new content to strengthen performance, and I think most players should be too. After all, no one wants a repeat of the technical issues that plagued the last major update.
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