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Helldivers 2 Studio Now Developing Self-Funded New Action IP in Unreal Engine

Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Studios is already hiring for a self-funded co-op action game in Unreal Engine, which is based on a new IP.

tech4gamers.com

• Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Studios has been planning its next game for some time, revealing that it will be self-funded.
• The team is now already hiring for a Senior System Designer to work on a new co-op action game.
• The title will be based on a new IP and will require the role to have experience in Unreal Engine.

 

[Loomy]

That's exciting. Will be interesting to see if they stick with Sci-Fi.

 

[kevboard]

in Unreal Engine

 

[Barakov]

 

[Mister Wolf]

I thought they bent the knee to Sony.

 

[Trogdor1123]

Unreal 6?

 

[tusharngf]

Good for them ..

 

[POKEYCLYDE]

With how much I'm enjoying Helldivers 2 and how player/consumer friendly it is, I'm excited to see what they cook up next.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Cool

 

[nial]

I thought they bent the knee to Sony.

Weird thing to say when a publisher-developer partnership is among the most common business practices in the industry.
Anyway, a (mostly) independent studio being able to self-fund is good.

 

[BennyBlanco]

I thought they bent the knee to Sony.

They bent the knee to Tencent which is definitely what is allowing them to self fund this

Tencent reportedly snaps up 16% of Helldivers 2 studio Arrowhead, continuing a prolific spree of share buying that includes Ubisoft, FromSoftware, and more

Just one more

www.gamesradar.com

 

[Holammer]

in Unreal Engine

Bitsquid is a bit of a mess. Imagine bringing on new people and have them work on a dead archaic engine nobody is trained on today.

 

[lh032]

in Unreal Engine

PCMR:

 

[kevboard]

Bitsquid is a bit of a mess. Imagine bringing on new people and have them work on a dead archaic engine nobody is trained on today.

there are other alternatives... like... developing your own engine... or hell, Cryengine?

 

[Ceadeus]

I hope the character design gets better because they're generic af in Helldiver 2 they look like temu masterchief

 

[vaibhavpisal]

there are other alternatives... like... developing your own engine... or hell, Cryengine?

Just dont use latest features on UE5. It can be pretty optimised. I just finished Split Fiction. Ran smoothly.

But am sure no studio management would allow that. They have to prepare their team for next gen features.

 

[Katatonic]

See, that's what happens when you launch on Playstation.

 

[Topher]

Glad they were not acquired by Sony. Now they are not stuck making Helldivers for eternity

 

[Yoboman]

Hope it works out as well as it has for Quantic Dream

 

[Bernkastel]

Glad they were not acquired by Sony. Now they are not stuck making Helldivers for eternity

And instead make soulless Unreal Engine crap.

 

[Signalis]

Unreal Engine? Well at least we know it will run like shit

 

[Black_Stride]

in Unreal Engine

Stingray has been discontinued.|
Their options are pretty limited.

there are other alternatives... like... developing your own engine... or hell, Cryengine?

Develop their own Engine?
They are self funding this project, they would have eaten through that budget before the engine was even stable enough to start development of the game.

Starting a CryEngine project right now would also be a bad idea as they [CryTek] havent updated CryEngine in over 3 years with a promise of CryEngine 6 coming soon since forever.
Even if Arrowhead is super lean and fast the engine would be 6+ years old by the time the game came out.
KCD2 was developed on a then current version of CryEngine and for the game they were making an Open World game with a lot of foliage CryEngine was(maybe still is) the best consumer engine at that specific use case.


You can watch an interview with director about why they chose CryEngine.....he doesnt mention that they also already had a pipeline for working with CryEngine and that KCD2 was coming soon, you can see him almost slip up when they tell him CryEngine is heavy(he knows they leaned it out already).

 

[Fabieter]

I thought they bent the knee to Sony.

Actually the ongoing relationship must feed them well if they are able to self fund a big new coop game. Before they made games for sony they were like 10 people.

 

[Kerotan]

Glad they were not acquired by Sony. Now they are not stuck making Helldivers for eternity

Does arrowhead get much of a cut from Helldivers 2?

 

[archangelmorph]

They bent the knee to Tencent which is definitely what is allowing them to self fund this

Tencent reportedly snaps up 16% of Helldivers 2 studio Arrowhead, continuing a prolific spree of share buying that includes Ubisoft, FromSoftware, and more

Just one more

www.gamesradar.com

What are you on about?

They're a relatively tiny team and built a GaaS smash hit that's likely raking it in.

They will have more than enough money now to fund whatever they want for a long long time.

 

[Black_Stride]

Actually the ongoing relationship must feed them well if they are able to self fund a big new coop game. Before they made games for sony they were like 10 people.

Considering how young Arrowhead is this deal is one of the best in the industry.
Assuming this game doesnt completely drain their coffers they could be a powerhouse smaller AAA developer in the coming years.

Shame about StingRay engine going under......Autodesk shoulda just left it alone if they dont plan on supporting it long term.
Look at what theyve dont with Mudbox, such a great software yet they just forgot it exists and keep repacking the exact same versions as yearly releases.

They could probably have given the engine back to FatShark cuz what the heck are FatShark gonna do now?
They developed the engine, sold it to Autodesk but kept using it, but now Autodesk has stopped licensing FatSharks engine out.......Unreal Engine or are they gonna try capture lighting twice with a new engine?

 

[Topher]

And instead make soulless Unreal Engine crap.

Freedom to make whatever they want. Whether it is "soulless UE crap", time will tell

Does arrowhead get much of a cut from Helldivers 2?

Not sure

 

[Pedro Motta]

Hope it works out as well as it has for Quantic Dream

 

[Black_Stride]

Does arrowhead get much of a cut from Helldivers 2?

Id think the revenue split would be decent for Arrowhead, even if its Sonys IP they are the main dev and are still handling support.
They gotta be eating good.

 

[archangelmorph]

Id think the revenue split would be decent for Arrowhead, even if its Sonys IP they are the main dev and are still handling support.
They gotta be eating good.

The rev split should be very very good for Arrowhead.

Arrowhead own the IP and Sony had no idea they had as big a hit on their hands as the game ended up being, so they would have been a lot less aggressive than with a much bigger budget production, with a much bigger team, with much bigger marketing budget for Sony, with much higher initial sales target estimates.

Sony will be going in hard on the next run, but will have to accept that Arrowhead have a lot more leverage now to steer their future, so there's that for them to balance.

 

[Mercador]

Kinda related, just tried W40K Space Marine 2 demo and I like it. But I wonder if Helldivers is better? Space Marine feels a lot like Gears but there's no cover (?!). I know that W40K come before Gears as a lore perspective

 

[Loboxxx]

It's a shame they're no longer working with Sony as a partner; they worked very well together. Few have split from Sony and done well, so I hope that's not the case here.

 

[Germuso]

I hope the character design gets better because they're generic af in Helldiver 2 they look like temu masterchief

But master chief is a doomguy temu....

 

[tTHANOSs]

They should focus on their current game that's still broken.

 

[Mr Moose]

The rev split should be very very good for Arrowhead.

Arrowhead own the IP and Sony had no idea they had as big a hit on their hands as the game ended up being, so they would have been a lot less aggressive than with a much bigger budget production, with a much bigger team, with much bigger marketing budget for Sony, with much higher initial sales target estimates.

Sony will be going in hard on the next run, but will have to accept that Arrowhead have a lot more leverage now to steer their future, so there's that for them to balance.

Which IP? Helldivers? Sony owns that.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Actions will have consequences, Arrowhead

 

[Black_Stride]

The rev split should be very very good for Arrowhead.

Arrowhead own the IP and Sony had no idea they had as big a hit on their hands as the game ended up being, so they would have been a lot less aggressive than with a much bigger budget production, with a much bigger team, with much bigger marketing budget for Sony, with much higher initial sales target estimates.

Sony will be going in hard on the next run, but will have to accept that Arrowhead have a lot more leverage now to steer their future, so there's that for them to balance.

^Helldivers II credits


Sony own the IP.

Arrowhead also dont have access to the StringRay engine anymore for horde handling, unless someone buys StingRay back from Autodesk, FatShark are likely gonna have to make another engine to continue doing what they are doing.

Its the reason Arrowhead is looking to go to anther engine.
Im hoping if they are going Unreal Engine 5, they are heavily modifying it to handle what they do with their games.
Same with FatShark, I hope they make their own engine or make a branch of Unreal that all these StingRay studios can use.


P.S As long as the player numbers are as high as they are, I dont think Sony is even going to be thinking about a Helldivers III, they can just keep printing money with this game and expanding it.

 

[kur07]

I don't get the negative sentiment on Unreal Engine on this forum. It's a lot better than most other things, such as Unity3D or From's in-house engine.

It's a sharp tool, you can make pretty much anything in it. Including a poorly performing game. But it can look good AND run fast, just look at Arc Raiders on base PS5.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

I don't get the negative sentiment on Unreal Engine on this forum. It's a lot better than most other things, such as Unity3D or From's in-house engine.

It's a sharp tool, you can make pretty much anything in it. Including a poorly performing game. But it can look good AND run fast, just look at Arc Raiders on base PS5.

Most games use Unreal Engine so most games with performance issues are going to be Unreal Engine. Is what it is.

 

[Black_Stride]

Kinda related, just tried W40K Space Marine 2 demo and I like it. But I wonder if Helldivers is better? Space Marine feels a lot like Gears but there's no cover (?!). I know that W40K come before Gears as a lore perspective

Space Marine 2 is nothing like Gears of War.
Literally the only similarity is giant dudes in Armor, but even then its totally different.
From a gameplay perspective Space Marine 2 is a straight TPS with some melee combat.

If you are debating between Space Marine 2 and Helldivers 2 take note that Helldivers 2 is a straight GaaS game, its only multiplayer "horde" through and through, it doesnt even have a PvP mode.

Space Marine 2 has a campaign, a PvP mode and a PvE mode.
Different prices, very different games, so take that into consideration.

It's a shame they're no longer working with Sony as a partner; they worked very well together. Few have split from Sony and done well, so I hope that's not the case here.

They most def are still working with Sony.
They are still the main devs of Helldivers 2 and are maintaining it.
Id imagine whenever Helldivers 3 needs to happen Sony is going to be calling Arrowhead to do it.
What engine they are gonna use is the real question?
Arrowhead and Fatshark are pretty flush with cash and they should really try to buy back StingRay Engine and maintain it under a new combined cooperative.

We also dont know who is gonna be publishing this game, it may be Sony for all we know, they already have a good working relationship.

 

[Fbh]

Shame about UE5, means it will probably look and run like shit on consoles.
But then again as a relatively small company and doing self publishing, it's not like there are a whole lot of engine options out there.

 

[BennyBlanco]

What are you on about?

They're a relatively tiny team and built a GaaS smash hit that's likely raking it in.

They will have more than enough money now to fund whatever they want for a long long time.

They handed them 80M cash for the stake. What do you think they'll do with it?

 

[Xyphie]

Does arrowhead get much of a cut from Helldivers 2?

Their earnings are public.

Omsättning = Revenue
Resultat efter finansnetto = Net income

Numbers are in 000 SEK, so 961 372 000 SEK = ~$100M USD of revenue in 2024.

 

[Mercador]

Space Marine 2 is nothing like Gears of War.
Literally the only similarity is giant dudes in Armor, but even then its totally different.
From a gameplay perspective Space Marine 2 is a straight TPS with some melee combat.

If you are debating between Space Marine 2 and Helldivers 2 take note that Helldivers 2 is a straight GaaS game, its only multiplayer "horde" through and through, it doesnt even have a PvP mode.

Space Marine 2 has a campaign, a PvP mode and a PvE mode.
Different prices, very different games, so take that into consideration.

Thanks, since I don't play multiplayer anymore, I should get Space Marine. I guess it will be lower for Christmas so I'll wait then. Now I want to play Rogue Trader though...

 

[Black_Stride]

Thanks, since I don't play multiplayer anymore, I should get Space Marine. I guess it will be lower for Christmas so I'll wait then. Now I want to play Rogue Trader though...

Lucky you cuz it just went on sale for the lowest price its ever been, dunno if its gonna go much lower during Christmas.

For Chaos!!!!

 

[Mercador]

Yeah I guess the demo is kind of new? So that's why it's 55% off. I'm hoping 75% off by Christmas.

 

[PlayerPurple]

there are other alternatives... like... developing your own engine... or hell, Cryengine?

Yeah, such an easy thing to do for an independent, self-funded studio to do *eyeroll*

Developing your own engine takes years and lots of money, especially for a game with modern AAA fidelity.

 

[kevboard]

Yeah, such an easy thing to do for an independent, self-funded studio to do *eyeroll*

uh...

Developing your own engine takes years and lots of money, especially for a game with modern AAA fidelity.

which is why I mentioned alternative engines like CryEngine 5... you know... ones that don't have significant inherent issues present in literally every game release ever.

 

[PlayerPurple]

uh...

Thanks for proving my point!

No way in hell you're trying to compare a 3D platformer with PS2 level fidelity, running on an engine in development for over 15 years across various mobile games, to the type of engine Arrowhead would have to make to support a game of Helldiver 2's fidelity (or better).

Unless, of course, you're ignorant/delusional.

which is why I mentioned alternative engines like CryEngine 5... you know... ones that don't have significant inherent issues present in literally every game release ever.

You're welcome to list these "significant inherent issues" that apparently every single Unreal 5 game has.

And while you're at it, tell me how much those "significant" issues impacted Black Myth Wukong's or Clair Obscure's sales.