One of the Helldivers 2 team's post-release MVPs has ridden off into the sunset, as players battle to find out where the Jet Brigade came from
"The show goes on, just without me."
Helldivers 2 is starting to reach the point where the end of what's generally been a pretty stellar first year of existence comes into view, even if it won't hiot that milestone until early February 2025.
Through all of the game's post release life so far - which has had plenty of ups and downs - developer Arrowhead's community managers have done a pretty great job of helping keep the loyal community that's grown up around the game informed and feeling like their voices are being heard. As HD2's latest Major Order kicked off, though, one of them has announced that they'll no longer be doing that job going forwards.
If you've spent any time in Helldivers 2's Discord server, or just keep up with the news on Super Earth's ongoing struggle to establish galactic control, odds are the handle 'Twinbeard' rings a bell. It belongs to developer Thomas Petersson, who alongside the likes of Katherine 'Baskinator' Baskin has made up part of HD2's very active community team to this point.
However, on Friday, Petersson revealed that he was seeing out his last day in that role, as his contract with Arrowhead is "coming to an end". "Helldivers 2 is a much healthier game today than it was a few months ago, and it has a bright future alongside all of you. Thank you for sticking with it, us at Arrowhead and me during my service here," he wrote in an announcement on the game's Discord, "Most of you know I neither BS nor lie, so when I say I’m forever grateful for you taking me along this amazing helldive, know that it’s from the bottom of my heart.
"There were things I wanted to say that I sometimes couldn’t. That’s part of the job. There were also things I wanted to do that we never got around to - or haven’t, rather. The show goes on, just without me. Be nice to my colleagues, try to be patient with all the hard-working devs if things take more time than you would like them to, and stay as dedicated, as crazy and as wonderful as you always are."
There's been an outpouring of love from the Helldivers 2 community towards Twinbeard, who says he'll be staying active on the server in non-Arrowhead rep capacity. Petersson defintely deserves it too - I've spent a lot of time covering Helldivers 2 in 2024, and even in the times when players definitely weren't happy with what Arrowhead and Sony were doing with the game, he was among the most active members of a community team that faces the tough task of moving as fast as the shooter does.
With online games like this, having community staff who can communicate with players in a fashion that's honest enough not to feel disingenuous, but also always maintain a professional tone even when the heat gets turned up and there are upset folks to deal with is key. So, it's sad to see someone who regularly managed to pull that delicate balance off move on.
Around the same time Twinbeard made this announcement, Helldivers 2 also got a fresh Major Order to follow-up last week's machine gun testing, and as of writing, players are battling their way towards the target planet of Choohe, which they've got to secure in order to "pinpoint the true origin of the Jet Brigade". Right now, the battle's on the neighbouring planet of Matar Bay, which sits at 89% liberated, and there are just over two days left to win out.