Helldivers 2’s Galactic Game Master

One of Helldivers 2’s standout features is the inclusion of a human Game Master who oversees the game’s expansive galactic war. However, this unique role proved to be quite challenging for Arrowhead Game Studios, leading them to call for “emergency” assistance to manage the game’s large player base.

Last week, Arrowhead revealed that they have a Game Master named Joel in charge of Helldivers 2’s galactic war. Joel’s responsibilities are reminiscent of a D&D Dungeon Master, shaping the narrative based on player actions. However, managing a game with over half a million players is no easy task. According to a report from GamesRadar, Arrowhead’s community manager, Baskinator, mentioned that the studio had to bring in additional help to handle the workload.

One Discord user expressed, “Sounds incredibly daunting when you have to juggle the expectations set by the roadmap/dev studio vs what the 500K+ active players want and do.” Baskinator agreed, responding, “That’s why we have done an emergency expansion to the GM’s team. He’s only one guy, and he was just not sleeping. I remember over the launch weekend, he was sending me messages at 4 AM because we were the only ones still awake.”

Helldivers 2 turned out to be a much bigger success than Arrowhead or Sony had anticipated, leading to server overcrowding at launch. Consequently, the game’s Game Master found himself overwhelmed in the days following the release.

“Unfortunately, our scope was much narrower at launch,” the community manager explained. “We expected fewer players and easier means and methods of communication.”

While specifics about Helldivers 2’s GM system remain scarce, Baskinator mentioned that part of her role involves conveying player feedback to Joel and his team. Additionally, plans are in place to offer in-depth insights into the GM system, with Joel possibly engaging directly with the community.