Helldivers 2 Developer Speaks Out on ‘DEI’ and Politics in Games

Helldivers 2 was one of the biggest surprise success stories of last yearsold more than 10 million copies and became a cultural phenomenon. The creative director of the alien shooter kicked off 2025 by asking fans about their hopes and dreams for Arrowhead Game Studios’ future projects, culminating in a brief exchange about “DEI” and politics in games.

“10 minutes to 2025,” Arrowhead CEO turned creative director Johan Pilestedt tweeted on December 31: “What are your expectations and desires for Arrowhead’s next game? I’m working on the main concept, but I’d love to hear your speculations. »

Hundreds of fans responded. Someone replied“Never add dei to your games,” referring to the acronym for diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives that anti-woke culture often uses as shorthand for perceived efforts to impose progressive values in video games and other forms of art and entertainment. Despite its innocuous roots, DEI has become a loaded term in online debates, not because of what it actually means, but because of what it symbolizes to certain reactionary groups.

Pilestedt, which has a reputation among sprawling cities Helldivers 2 the community which speaks often and openly on social media, responded with a more general and ambiguous proclamation on the development. “If this doesn’t add anything to the gaming experience, it detracts from it,” he tweeted in response. “And games should be a pure pursuit of incredible moments.”

“How would DEI have benefited Helldivers 2?” another user asked. Pilestedt replied: “I don’t like labels. But humanity is united in its extreme xenophobia on Super Earth. #Inclusion then, maybe it’s DEI? I really don’t care. Make good plays, don’t make a contemporary political statement.”

The irony of the tightrope: distancing Helldivers 2 current online culture wars without dismissing them out of hand—is that the sci-fi shooter is loaded with political allegories, satire, and parodies of fascist propaganda. One of the central wars in the game players is for oil. “Helldivers 2 “The tradition is funny and resolutely political: bugs are oil, robots are communists, “managed democracy” is a scam,” we can read on one PC gamer title back at launch.

Pilestedt could mean that Helldivers 2 simply avoids any direct reference to hot topics in contemporary news headlines. This might provide enough distance to immunize the game from some modern political controversies, but it might also be a distinction without a difference when it comes to people considering any game that addresses a point they don’t agree with. agreement is unnecessarily political.

For others, “DEI” is just code for criticizing any game that doesn’t star white men, like some people’s idiotic reaction to Naughty Dog Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet reveal trailer made nauseatingly clear.

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