As bugs and bad performance spoil an otherwise excellent Helldivers 2 update, Arrowhead CEO says its 'technical debt is crippling'
A major Helldivers 2 update is here, but somebody invited the wrong kind of bugs to the party. The Into the Unjust update takes the fight to Terminid strongholds, plunging Super Earth's finest into cave systems guarded by acid-spitting bug dragons.
That's all well and good, but a new wave of bugs (the software kind) is threatening to ruin the good times. Folks are reporting huge, inexplicable framerate drops before and during missions, others are crashing all over the place, and those new cave expeditions have introduced some annoying quirks, like a tendency to respawn on top of the level, where the only option is to fall to your death.
Helldivers 2's technical state is bad enough that Arrowhead CEO Shams Jorjani spent hours yesterday responding to complaints in the Helldivers Discord, taking responsibility for the instability and explaining how Helldivers 2 has built up "technical debt" over time.
"Performance is something we've talked about a TON today. It's not good enough. A fix for some of the most immediate things is being prepped," Jorjani responded to one fan.
"The technical debt is crippling," he responded to another. "With the Xbox release behind us, we'll be able to take a much better stab at it. Like a double stab. With a bigger knife."
In games, tech debt is typically associated with technical problems increasing as a game grows more complex. That's what Helldivers 2 is going through in a big way, according to Jorjani.
Compared to other games with regular update schedules, Helldivers 2 changes a lot: An average Apex Legends update may add a new character and map element, but Helldivers 2 receives new enemy types, weapons, maps, and missions every few months. It's enough that a studio of any size would struggle to keep it squeaky clean, and Arrowhead isn't particularly big.
That said, Arrowhead isn't making excuses. In a handful of responses, Jorjani reinforced that he considers the current state of the game unacceptable:
"We've been lax in setting standards for what's fine."
"This is us trying to get our shit in order: make fun content and keep tech afloat. [We're] not quite there."
When asked if Helldivers 2 is due for an "Operation Health" update that focuses solely on performance over content, Jorjani said he'd like to avoid that if possible.
"The way we want to operate is that every update is also a health update. But we didn't hit the mark with this one."
"We'd prefer not to have to do a performance-only update, but if that's something that is needed, we'll do it. But no one update will tackle all tech debt."
For what it's worth, I ran a few missions last night with minimal issues (no crashes or major framerate drops), so it's not exactly unplayable at the moment, but other bugs that predate yesterday's update have been grinding our gears, like one that causes audio to get horribly staticky and loud until the mission's over.
Fingers crossed that the planned hotfix will squash the most pressing problems. Jorjani didn't give a timeframe for such an update, but given the speed of past hotfixes, I'd be surprised if it didn't arrive by the end of the week.