Helldivers 2 is both a marvel and total anomaly; a AA smash hit, outpacing sales and engagement seen in AAA titles, and a live service model that has even sceptics thrilled. It has shattered expectations on all fronts; from sales through to its refreshing approach to a community driven narrative, which rapidly and regularly responds to even small player actions. 

Historically, the games industry has taken a fairly traditional approach to comms, focussing on new stories and announcements to support the steady stream of new games. Now, we need to adapt to the dawn of a live service dominated AAA landscape, where games are expected to retain players for 5-10 years. There’s a greater need to deliver fresh and exciting stories for the media, relying on tactics such as tapping into community-driven narratives. Key to all of this, is to find ways to draw players back into the game, and instilling a sense of ownership of the world events and responsibility that relies on their action.

As we approach an always-online games economy, let’s take a closer look at how Helldivers 2 has made an unprecedented impact with players, and what developers, publishers and comms leads can learn from it.

DIVING IN 

For the uninitiated, Helldivers 2 is a live service, co-operative third-person shooter that pits players against hostile galactic forces. Using classic twitch shooting skills, tactical airstrikes, and supporting tools, players take on diverse missions across a wide system of planets. But, what really sets Helldivers 2 apart is a deeply satirical overarching story, which responds and reacts to player actions.

Players are cogs in a greater war effort with intensely morally grey objectives supplied by a nebulous authority overseeing Super Earth’s forces. As players ‘liberate’ planets, new objectives are added to the galaxy, driving players to hotspots of action.

It’s an incredibly reactive narrative, masterminded by the arch nemesis of the Helldivers; Joel. Joel is the mysterious game master behind the constant ebb and flow of the war, responding to player success and failure with new objectives that slowly escalate in threat and hint at what’s to come. 

It’s a highly impactful approach to live service game design, and one that immediately demonstrates the power of a continually evolving game.

A RESPONSIVE NARRATIVE CREATES GREAT PR

This narrative has created a highly engaged community with patriotic slogans, online roleplaying in the comment sections of related content, and a steady stream of organic propaganda. 

But, one battle has done more to drive engagement than all others; Malevelon Creek. Dubbed ‘Robot Vietnam’, this is one of the first places the community meets the Automatons. With a thick jungle, ever present night reducing visibility and a never ending stream of enemies, the community’s fear of the Creek is heavily leveraged. Draining resources from the main objective, ‘Creek crawlers’ became such an issue that the community begged them to let the planet go.

Arrowhead has been paying close attention to this, and reacted accordingly. Following a surprise new objective, the Creek became the main target for the Helldivers. Filled with fire and fury, tens of thousands of freshly engaged players took the planet in a few hours, finally liberating the most infamous front in the game. The date was marked down in the history books; April 1st 2024. Both a player driven April fools joke and a highly immersive event, the story continues to develop with its day of liberation now officially celebrated in the game’s world. The event not only drew players back into the game, but also caused widespread media coverage and attention from even a non-player audience, likely driving reliable sales as players wanted to experience the story themselves.

Using the Creek to move the narrative forward is a spectacular example of leveraging organic player action to drive engagement and media coverage, drawing the audience back to the fight.

WHAT WE CAN ALL LEARN FROM HELLDIVERS 2

This is only a small sample of what Arrowhead has done well since the launch of Helldivers 2 two months ago, but the focus on community is key. To make the most of player driven narratives, communities must feel their involvement matters, and their actions have an impact. If they feel the game develops outside of their control, however minimal, they will be far less engaged. 

Comms must support this approach, ensuring every player feels a sense of ownership, with this being constantly and clearly fed back to them. Comms must make these community developments visible to both the players and media across both social platforms and traditional PR outreach. Speed and efficiency is vital, so as to strike when interest is high and news is fresh. Creating channels for regular, easy to source updates where players can engage freely is also of extreme importance to allow for wider engagement opportunities on a personal level. When comms make players feel their time is having a direct impact, it creates the perfect formula for continued success.

An incredible feat in community engagement and reactive storytelling, the continued engagement with fans, and quick responses to community demands, has created a positive space filled with teamwork and support, overlooking technical challenges and server issues. Helldivers 2 has not only proven the live service format can work, but demonstrated a new means by which comms can support similar games.

Image courtesy of Arrowhead Game Studios