Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Studios has opted to give away a new array of cosmetics tied to the PlayStation franchise Killzone following backlash from players. In the past day, Arrowhead announced its first “premium” collab for Helldivers 2 that centered around new items related to Killzone. While players were initially excited to see Killzone represented in Helldivers 2, this excitement faded quickly once many realized how steep the cost was. Now, in response to this blowback, Arrowhead has chosen to make the next round of Killzone gear entirely free.
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In an extensive new post from Arrowhead, the studio acknowledged that it may have missed the mark with the price of its first premium content in Helldivers 2. While the cost of this initial Killzone pack won’t be changing, Arrowhead said that the second pack, which includes five different items, is going to be handed out for free. Originally, this second wave of Killzone gear was set to launch on December 23rd, but Arrowhead has instead now chosen to release it today.
“As this was our first crossover offering, we’ve been listening to the response, and the feedback we’ve received from our community surveys is that crossover content is really high up on your wishlists,” Arrowhead wrote. “At the same time, some of you are not happy with the prices of the items and we will revisit this. […] Because of all this, in partnership with our friends at Guerrilla (and as we’re in the season of holiday cheer), we’ve decided to offer a gift to all players.”
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“Firstly, we are gifting to everyone the planned second wave of the Helldivers x Killzone collaboration items today, free of charge,” the statement continued. “The distribution of those items will begin shortly, in two waves. As such we’re also going to extend the duration of the items currently in the Superstore from 5 days to 10 days so that you have a chance to get hold of it and reduce the risk of missing out. We’re also investigating solutions for how we can bring these items back permanently in the future. […] We hope you have a great holiday period, and continue to enjoy spreading managed democracy in Omens of Tyranny!”
Moving forward, it’s clear that Arrowhead intends to release more premium items in Helldivers 2. What those cosmetics will look like or what franchises they might be tied to isn’t currently known, but it’s pretty apparent that Arrowhead is going to rethink how that content is released. Whenever another launch like this happens, presumably in 2025, it will be interesting to see how this Killzone collab changes Arrowhead’s future strategies.
