“We Have Helldivers at Home” — Arrowhead Reacts to Fortnite’s new Bug-Themed Season Ahead of Helldivers 2’s Xbox Launch

Fortnite’s latest season has arrived, bringing a new enemy type: aliens simply called "bugs". The update immediately sparked comparisons to Arrowhead’s Helldivers franchise, where squads also team up to battle bugs and machines across large-scale battles.

Some fans even speculated that Epic Games might have originally approached Arrowhead about a crossover before creating its own take, but of course, that’s just speculation. For Xbox players, though, Fortnite’s latest season could serve as a fun warm-up before Helldivers 2 releases on August 20, 2025, for Xbox Series X|S (via VideoGamer).

A fan over on the Helldivers 2 discord recently asked Arrowhead directly about Fortnite’s new season, noticing how it looked eerily similar to Helldivers' own bug battles, wondering if this was a concern so close to Helldivers 2’s Xbox launch.

Community Manager replied with a playful jab: “Hmm… it’s giving ‘we have Helldivers at home.’”

They went on to say it was flattering for Fortnite’s latest season to have taken inspiration from Helldivers, adding, “I’m not worried. Fortnite is Fortnite, Helldivers is Helldivers. If the kings of video game drip think our drip is cool enough to… inspire them… then that’s super cool.”

Arrowhead CEO Shams Jorjani also stayed frosty, joking that Fortnite’s season “feels very democratic” – a nod to Helldiver’s lore, which centers around humanity’s “Great Democratization.” Both comments kept things light-hearted. While the similarities are clear, and arguably draw from Starship Troopers and other similar works of fiction.

Arrowhead treated the whole thing as harmless fun rather than a serious issue. It’s also worth remembering that despite Fortnite finding its success with the Battle Royale formula, it did start as a PvE exclusive game with "Save The World" before development shifted mainly toward the now-popular BR mode.

Helldivers 2 marching to Xbox soon

Helldivers 2 has already enjoyed massive success on PS5 and PC. Now, the confirmed Xbox Series X|S release is bringing the full co-op PvE, alien bug-slaying experience to Microsoft's console. It also marks a notable milestone, the first time Sony has released and published a game directly on Xbox hardware. Helldivers is known for its chaotic teamwork, always-on friendly fire, large-scale battles, and galactic campaigns, all of which will soon be available to a whole new audience.

CEO Shams Jorjani recently commented on the upcoming Xbox release, saying, “It was all PlayStation,” when asked how the port came about. The move highlights a shift in Sony’s strategy, focusing on community engagement rather than relying solely on hardware sales, a pivot that Xbox embraced years ago.

It all seems to be going well for Fortnite, Epic says players have already squashed more than 500 million bugs since the season launched, showing strong engagement with the new update.

When Epic first teased the season, I half-expected a Helldivers crossover myself. The studio hinted that it had the perfect characters to help deal with the swarm of bugs, which made the connection seem obvious. Instead, the reinforcements turned out to be the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (arguably the best Rangers) and Halo’s Red and Blue Spartans, both lending their firepower to the fight.

Have you tried Fortnite’s new season? Personally, I can’t pass up on anything Halo-related, so I’ll be grabbing the Halo skins in the Battle Pass and giving my Master Chief skin an energy sword. Or are you waiting until August 20 to squash bugs in Helldivers 2?