Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt is just a little bit reluctant about embracing the live service label.
There are a lot of live service games out there these days, and it’s not a trend we wholeheartedly love. But amidst the formulaic deluge, some games get it right. Helldivers 2 is a great example of that—but in a new interview with PC Gamer, Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt sounded almost reluctant to embrace the label.
“We don’t view ourselves—I mean, we view ourselves as a live service game because it’s unfair to say anything else,” Pilestedt said. “We are going to continue adding more stuff to the game, and there are monetization elements in the game.”
But that aspect of the game has to “go hand-in-hand” with the base game, which Pilestedt said “should give you a full experience, like a really good several hours of good playtime.” Further monetization should be entirely optional, and more importantly, shouldn’t come into play until well after the experience of the base game is over.
“If you imagine what’s what’s happening with the game in year two, year three, year four, at that point you need to shift the the model where the content that we put out for free, like new enemies, new missions, whatever it might be, we also give the players the opportunity to support us in continuing to build the title,” Pilestedt said.
