Helldivers 2 is changing..

Asmongold Clips / Asmongold Reacts To: Helldivers 2 CEO Steps down
On this Asmongold Clips KZbin Channel you'll never quit finding all the funny Asmongold Moments with Mcconnell and the best Asmongold Highlights from the most popular games, like: Baldur's Gate 3, Helldivers 2, Starfield, Blizzard Diablo 4, The War Within & Hardcore Classic WoW, the record breaking MMORPG FFXIV, Path of Exile 2, sneak peeks from Gameplay of the upcoming Riot MMO and playthroughs of many other popular games like Monster Hunter, Final Fantasy 16, Elden Ring and more. Also Asmongold Reacts to a lot of content, such as World Record Speed Run of games, Drama and videos of some of the most interesting creators like penguinz0, Internet Historian, Emiru, Dunkey and more. Asmon is also known for his "The True Story of Asmongold", "Asmongold $2 Pizza" and "Asmongold $2 Steak", "Asmongold Room and House Tour" videos, the legendary Transmog Competitions and Mount Off competitions, Ban Appeals, Media Share streams, Reddit Recap Reactions and much more.
► Asmongold TV: / @asmontv
► Twitch: / zackrawrr
Editor: Daily Dose of Asmongold
Contacts:
/ dasmongold
[e-mail]

[@YorickKnowledge]

the moment editor comes in, you know something bad happened

[@iller3]

Editor is the primary quest giver

[@vanguardknight0490]

for real 😅😭

[@RenegadePlayingGames]

It's kind of reaching this time though. It sounds like the guy is just going to be handling the paperwork (so to speak) so the head guy can focus more on the actual game. So there is actually zero reason to assume they'll suddenly make a bunch of crappy paid DLCs or whatever. At this point, it's just the internet digging for clicks.

[@azahel542]

We watch Asmongold for the reactions, we watch the clips for the always well informed editor.

[@annaadotd6405]

​@RenegadePlayingGames only time will tell, only time

[@skyz6708]

It's worth noting that Pilestedt is still Chairman of Arrowhead and is still technically Shams boss.

[@earthhal0king]

That gives me hope

[@desireless4092]

Impressive. Very nice. Let's see Sony's statement.

[@MetalHeadEnjoyer]

Love the nott pfp.

[@MunitionsDudTester]

GIVE THE EDITOR A RAISE!

[@powerofdeath.]

eh idk tbh, the editor make 280k a year which is more than some american doctors, hes really paid well and dont need a raise

[@Ankur10798]

How do u know that?​@@powerofdeath.

[@SIMPLEisWIN]

I remember asmon said that he dosn't take anything from youtube videos. And gives it all to his editor. Not sure if thats the case now

[@CyborgFranky8]

@@SIMPLEisWIN Asmon doesn't do anything YT wise and so doing that is a massive W. Editor deserves everything from the video imo

[@tabletoparcade4203]

@@SIMPLEisWIN I remember him saying something like that. Iirc, he doesn't control any of his YT channels, but just allows fans to crack on making content from his streams. If that's still true, then 'his editor' isn't actually his editor, but an entirely independent creator.

[@KrimsonStorm]

One thing I will say is Johan is still the chairman. While the CEO is in charge of all of the rest of the C suite, he's accountable to the chairman. So in essence, Johan hired someone to do administrative work while keeping all major decisions in his exclusive hands. Smart strategy

[@wavelengthrenegadereef9143]

This is an important distinction that I think not enough people are talking about.

[@atavusable]

Yup he can’t fuck him over and now can try to make hd2 the best game he can. Must be tiring to deal with sony bullshit.

[@thegrowingdarkness1377]

Im biased, i love the game too much that I refuse to see it other than a positive light. With that said, havent played the game since the region restrictions and not touching it until we get actual clarification on what is going on.

[@fakestiv]

Yeah, but I wouldn't be surprised if since the fiasco was probably caused by poor decisions early on from Johan, Sony pressured him to leave the administrative side to someone else. Probably they were not amused that the choice to launch anyways without PSN link (Johan's choice) blew on their face.

[@jayhongfr]

While that is true, all it takes is one board member to interject with the decisions being made regarding anything about the game to create issues that will pile up (hah get it) in the long run. This happens a lot in business during the seed process when companies find investors that provide the financial backing in exchange for a seat on the table. This is another really, REALLY, important distinction to note.

[@02337755]

So it goes. Game gets big. They bring on a new CEO that pretends to care about Gaming. They squeeze every last drop out of the IP then move on to the next company.

[@DieselRamcharger]

@NikZedika i was about to get this game, then all the BS started. i figured hold off till it smooths out. There is noway in hell im buying now. So glad i waited.

[@joeydirt420]

@@DieselRamchargerwow good job. Saved 40$ missed out on hundreds of hours of fun. Real smart. Atleast you have your pride😂

[@CBRN-115]

​@@joeydirt420smartass

[@verti3213]

There's no point in playing a game that causes stress. I deeply enjoyed larping community on Reddit. It was even better than the game. Then the dramas started.

[@drunkpunk5393]

Yup. This is literally just a death sentence to the game. Him stepping down is the worst thing he could do. He shoulda told Sony to stop fucking up his product or else he’ll take it to Xbox for exclusivity.

[@trigamingevolved]

Same thing Linus did for LMG. Arrowhead is NOT publicly traded. So the owners stay the same and can keep the CEO from doing anything too bad. The former CEO who realistically is a Game Developer first and foremost is now solely focusing on creating the games which is their skill set. And someone else who seems like a friend of Pilestedt can focus on all of the top level admin duties. As long as the ownership makes sure the CEO doesn't do anything too bad, there should be no issues with this. And the studio should technically be better off with the creative visionaries in creative roles, and someone for management inclined to take the admin/ceo role.

[@Lazarultos]

This is why I'm inclined to be cautiously optimistic about this. It seems like the right move internally so they can focus on the things they actually wanna do and benefit Arrowhead in turn. The next few months will show whether or not the game will make a recovery thanks to this move or if things will only get worse. As it stands, I still have faith in Arrowhead and Pilestedt since it does seem like they truly want Helldivers to thrive (despite the missteps they've made) and it seems like they won't abandon their baby anytime soon.

[@trigamingevolved]

@@Lazarultos Yeah.. I think the change here will be for the best. At least makes the most sense for logistics after the studio reaches a certain size. The big question imo really just becomes if sony re-adds the banned countries for helldivers 2 to be bought in or not.

[@lucasd1887]

@@trigamingevolved Agreed. I'm pretty annoyed by the farming on this. As usual commentors are ignorant AF and just make up storylines in their head. PS. I doubt Sony will budge on the banned countries. Honestly it was impressive that the playerbase was able to move Sony to revert to not needing a PSN anymore at all. Sony's reason for releasing on PC is to entice people into PSN, so they have no intention in releasing in regions where that is not possible. Their fault for selling it to those people in the first place though, dont get me wrong

[@trigamingevolved]

​@@lucasd1887 Yeah, most likely they wont add them back. Would be great if so, but what can you do... Personally though, I don't see a massive issue selling to countries you won't support in the future if & only if refunds are supported. Even if only automatic for a set number of hours of play time which they CAN define on steam. For example, I value my time at around $1 an hour for gaming, with the exception of story based games and so on. So if I played 60 hours, for $60 I think I got at least a decent value for the game. So I wouldn't have as much of a complaint if I can't play now. It does suck 100% to not be able to go back, but it at least isn't the worst. Say, I didn't get my value out of it. Played like 20 hours before they lock me out.. Well, I would probably want a refund. And I would understand even no matter the time I played, if I have the game removed from my account(country lock), I get a refund. I enjoyed my time, they took the product back I got my money back. If they did that, I would say it sucks to have it removed, but it isn't really a bad faith or really bad move. Locking out and not allowing refunds, even at least for a longer play time(up to the value of $1 an hour, not sure), that becomes a horrible decision and scummy.

[@NothingbutDust734]

Makes you wonder though, what kind of game owners are they to limit their playerbase. I guess they're afraid of their servers shutting down with even more players.

[@HackerArmy03]

An error was encountered while processing your request: This item is currently unavailable in your region

[@brain_tonic]

Nah but you got Sony Slammed blud ☠ ☠

[@Gutzzzzz]

mannn i was really looking forward to ghost of tsushima as well

[@J__T]

Ahoy ​@@Gutzzzzz

[@holymaggots70]

I don't have any game blocked in my country so i cant test it but are u able to claim global CD key of games that isnt available in your country?

[@Gutzzzzz]

@@holymaggots70 nope. if there is a region/activation lock it won't work

[@thelonehunter6025]

Just to make it clear for people even though Johan isn't the CEO anymore he's still the owner of the company and he can still make himself CEO at the drop of a hat if he wants to because he owns the company they're private. He made himself creative director to steer the ship back to its proper course and fix all the balance issues that the current balance devs have caused. Keep in mind that as stated by himself he was a Dev before he became a CEO so him making himself creative director is a good sign for the game. Especially because he agrees with players that the current balance team has been nerfing anything that we find fun. The point is if the current CEO doesn't live up to expectations and makes too many stupid decisions he can be fired by Johan and then he can appoint himself CEO again.

[@brandond2394]

Whoever asmongolds editor. Fucking legend. Only reason I watch these videos is cause you.

[@captain_trump]

Do you even? The editor's name is and has always been in the video description. Look it up yourself.

[@Eldesinstalado]

@@captain_trump there is no name, just an alias

[@FactoryDan]

​@@captain_trumpNo u

[@alacritysp]

@@Eldesinstalado no shit, youre not gonna dox somebody in a video description. everybody knows its daily and hes doing amazing work

[@HandleToBeDetermined]

@@captain_trump Ah yes, Dasmon Smith, our beloved

[@Bajicoy]

The third alien race will be behind a $70 DLC wall for 3 new enemies, 2 new guns, and a new planet to fight over.

[@DamianHowardTV]

If that happens, that’ll be it! I’m out. One of the reasons I gave this game a go and kept playing it, was because of the way that the MTX’s were handled (well/good). And now if it’s essentially gonna become a game that wouldn’t be out of place if it was published by EA or Ubisoft, then I’m done.

[@malcolm_in_the_middle]

No, that's not true. Each new enemy, new gun and new planet will get it's own DLC, for $10 each - $20 for the planet. You can't charge $70 for a DLC, the customers will never go for that!

[@DamianHowardTV]

@@mattandrews2594 Ohh I know THAT won’t happen. But that’s what I’m saying.. The way it’s going currently, is fine. No issues (minus the shit-show that’s been going on recently). But as soon as it starts to become a game like Call of Duty or an EA-type game, then I’m out.

[@johnbobtailsquib3290]

Same thing I was thinking.

[@alicorn3924]

​@@DamianHowardTV it's not gonna be like CoD, Paradox is instead known for bloating games with DLCs so that older games still give as much, if not even more, money than newer games since so much essential content is locked behind a DLC wall. Even worse, people who've been pre-ordering or buying the DLCs on their day 1 release will practically fare significantly more better than those who don't, as they'd be spending only a couple bucks compared to a bulk dlc purchase when buying every single DLC plus the actual game on top of all that. Paradox is pretty bad all things considered, but that's because they don't have any major competitor in their field, that being Grand Strategy Games.

[@ThisNameIsBanned]

Its a 50/50 , the next couple of months will show in what forge the game is molted. If they put out banger updates and more content, this will be a revelation. If they try to milk the players and drivel down the spiral of sell-out , this will be their downfall.

[@ShiroR3aper]

I feel like it won't be their downfall tho, it might turn out to be kinda like with most Paradox players; slightly bitter but generally tolerant towards horseshit like overpriced DLCs (and maybe cosmetics in the case of Helldivers)

[@inciacci549]

Oh for sure they'll bring out updates and content. It'll be DLCs with prices unheard of

[@binhvan4893]

As long as they skill keep the hello neighbour 2 dude around in the balance team, its a guaranteed downfall. The only question remaining is how long will it take ?

[@xmst5]

real money required for warbonds or something like that (just a joke hopefully) but probably better balancing

[@blackgem12]

We are at a crossroads for helldivers at this point. And I pray it goes the good route, only thing to do now is wait and see. Plus if he does know the lead dev, then he may take his advice more and more, pildestat would make a better Community manager then all the other ones who have left. Wait and see. Remember to bomb the game again if it ever goes down.

[@balakehb]

Pilestead still primarily owns the company and is the Chairman, and the old CEO left before the editors included notes, most of Paradox's shortcomings came after he left. Fundamental misunderstanding of what a CEO actually does.

[@dariofleitas2996]

You can't farm rage so easily with info like this so, best to be obtuse and miss inform players to get mad

[@guywholikesgoodmusic]

@@dariofleitas2996 That's what this channel is in a nutshell, now. Asmon has completely caved to just becoming an outrage streamer.

[@jakehero95]

​@@guywholikesgoodmusic not really, he frequently tells ppl to calm down and think more abt stuff. He's not all knowing and we see his thoughts and reactions as he learns things which often change as he gets more info. Calling Asmom a rage streamer is quite a big reach.

[@dariofleitas2996]

@@guywholikesgoodmusic 50 50 tbh. i like his non drama videos, and often is not really he but the editor telling very curated info to farm views

[@guywholikesgoodmusic]

@@jakehero95 He himself, maybe. But the audience he cultivates 100% is in it for the rage bait.

[@a1uffy]

This "video editor" isn't a mere mortal, I am now convinced... He's a literal "wise wizard" whose lived through countless wars and regime changes throughout the centuries: during which, he sported the fancy of being known as an "advisor" for many Kings and Queens in the past. How else would he always have so much digestible context, on the ready, for us normal folk to absorb?

[@Hirome_Satou]

lol all jokes aside, there is probably a whole editing team, someone that does the editing itself, someone that does research, there could also potentially be a scriptwriter, and then the narrator that does the voice over.

[@Ludydobry]

hes Gandalf 100%

[@Myhaay]

@@Hirome_Satou there's only 2 asmon editors, previous channels are catdany and daily dose of asmongold, one of them manages this clip channel, forgot which. stop your stupid conspiracy theory level thought, it's just one dude lmao.

[@Hirome_Satou]

@@Myhaay Conspiracy theory? It's not a "conspiracy theory level thought" to suggest that it's possible that a small team of people edits and researches stuff for clips. That's a pretty normal thing for big channels.

[@a1uffy]

@@Ludydobry Definitely Gangalf... No more Modor shit

[@howlingdin9332]

Arrowhead is a private company. The CEO can't do anything major without the approval of the owners, one of whom is Pilestedt.

[@berserkerpride]

He got himself busted down back to private so he could join the war.

[@ricardohoang8452]

Who even knows if a CEO Pilestedt hired will be evil??? 😂

[@TheCosmicAstro-]

We needed him to. The balance team are braindead. Piles is the only dev who has said anything that actually makes sense regarding the game. This is a huge W that he'll be taking the reigns of balance. The game has seen its player base PLUMMET. He recognized that and is doing something about it.

[@ZeallustImmortal]

Private is the second highest rank in the entire game

[@berserkerpride]

@@ZeallustImmortal It must be a starship troopers joke somehow. Because of how Zim saves the day at the end as a private.

[@devildante9]

@@TheCosmicAstro- As good as that may be for the game, consider that it has a high chance of fucking the way the game is monetized, and that will drive away existing and new players, while the work that Piles is going to do is only going to help keep the existing playerbase (which is very small currently after all the fuckups).

[@chickencurry420]

"Ideally, this is the perfect situation" Narrator: "It was, in fact, not the perfect situation."

[@sb17899]

Correction: "Actually, it is."

[@ReigoVassal]

Time: "and then people repeat the tragedy because they don't learn from it."

[@chickencurry420]

@@ReigoVassal Learn from history or don't, it doesn't matter anymore. History is gonna repeat itself anyway so it's really just a list of potential spoilers

[@acoolnameemm]

Pilestadt, still being the Chairman which the CEO has to answer to: "Are you sure about that?"

[@jaeger2278]

@@chickencurry420 except you've misjudged the situation. The creative head of the studio being freed from administrative tasks while still being a chairman is good. He's still boss of the new CEO

[@RichSmithson]

The vultures are coming for HD2. It was good while it lasted I guess.

[@fredwin]

Man. Paradox is just about the worst name that could have popped up in that guy's resume. Paradox systematically ruined every IP they built in house and then continued to sink every developer they published.

[@kurozumi9834]

​@@fredwin I fail to see how CK3 got ruined in any way by some mediocre dlcs. Let's not even mention Stellaris that is still going strong. Unless this is about the games having too many dlcs which is a pointless discussion to have as strategy games just work like that and we would need to change the industry to see changes in that genre.

[@fredwin]

@@kurozumi9834 No, I take that back. Stellaris was never a good game to begin with, but you are correct that Crusader Kings was not ruined, probably why I forget it's even developed by Paradox. Here's a quick list of series ruined by Paradox though, off the top of my head: EU, Victoria, Hearts of Iron, Age of Wonders, Pillars of Eternity, Steel Division. And that doesn't even touch the stand-alone subpar games they've released like Imperator:Rome. Those got nothing to do with the awful DLC's or anti-consumer practices either, they're just shite.

[@kurozumi9834]

@@fredwin I cannot even begin to imagine why any 4x player wouldn't like Stellaris so I'mma just leave you alone. I can't argue what I genuinely cannot comprehend.

[@Aro9313]

​@@kurozumi9834 From my perspective the game is just micromanaging planets, picking the next technology to unlock, and spamming whatever stupid corvette build is the meta at the moment. There's not a lot to do, either. Unless, of course, you shell out hundreds of dollars for their garbage DLCs. Stellaris isn't the quintessential strategy game by a longshot. To me that's Civ 6, with honorable mentions to CK3 and probably some other game I'm forgetting about.

[@MrPierdole123]

I'm going to fact check the editor. Paradox started "milking" users for money AFTER that CEO left.

[@DeetTenebris]

I love how that channel is now as much about Asmon as it is about the editor

[@OsinakiKun]

This is the editors channel and asmond is just a mascot

[@louislam369]

Yeah, it’s good. There are people like me only got time to watch clips so I really appreciate that editor explaining the situation.

[@corvus8638]

Somebody has to do the heavy lifting… and we know how much Asmon likes to exercise

[@CrimsonGamer99]

Helldivers 2: *strikes gold* The seagulls of the gaming industry: "MINE"

[@LoliPolice-bf7mw]

Finally, us Paradox map game enjoyers can have other communities suffer the same ill fate we have for well over a decade.

[@Vittrich]

While having around 10000h across Paradox games, i never had the intention to get f*d in a sandwich when i decided to buy a pve team shooter... cant wait for the 4 new planets, 2 stratagem mission overhaul DLC for 24,99€, that also makes all the progress i did before unavailable because its incompatible to the DLC now.

[@LoliPolice-bf7mw]

@@Vittrich Or the next 3 mission trees you get for some random African nations, or a South America dlc which gives focuses to nations nobody plays while the main nations haven't gotten an updated focus tree in years.

[@CubeInspector]

​@@LoliPolice-bf7mw who the fk plays a ww2 map game to play as South America that was probably the worst DLC I've seen come from PDX

[@brokedudeforever]

180 countries still Trapped behind Enemy Lines

[@Spooky_Spookerson]

RIP Helldivers, you had a good run, they are about to milk you for every penny.

[@cemarz]

​@anidiotmakesthingsIt's like they forgot why people liked the game a month after it released.

[@joeywakelytv]

@anidiotmakesthingslies it’s still over 50k on just steam.

[@InfamousX1000]

What got me was the constant weapon nerfs while ignoring the obvious bugs. It’s like the whole team wanted to watch it burn. All we did as players was delay the flames

[@superiornicholas412]

Bro just let it play out and see what happens.

[@InfamousX1000]

@@superiornicholas412 I haven't really stopped playing it, I've just been playing it less. At this point I'll just keep playing it as I do while keeping an eye on when to pull the cord

[@ShaiVR]

According to the article that was a part of the post Pilestedt will still remain Chairman. So he should still have control over anything the CEO tries to push. Hopefully that means we won't see any crazy monetization added in.

[@destrocrimson]

get ready to swipe more Helldivers!

[@Karathos]

Pilestedt is basically still in charge, cool your jets. Now... if Arrowhead's next announcement is that they are going public, then there's reason to be concerned.

[@michaelbuto305]

The moment players revert their overwhelmingly negative.. The players are done.

[@HarrytheUnlucky]

Currently mixed reviews as of 5/22/2024.

[@khajitt]

then let's just revert it back again to overwhelmingly negative

[@unkosherfood]

so many people turned their negative reviews positive when sony made the announcement and theyre still positive. and yet all countries are still banned and the steam page still says that PSN is *required* .

[@AmbroReality]

@@unkosherfood Because they do not care. They got what they wanted, but those who they used as excuse (countries who cant make psn account) got thrown away and forgotten as soon as players from "cool" countries got what they wanted. They even gaslight and shut down/silence any criticism of players from these countries who cant buy H2 or GoT (duo to this fiasco). Popular statements: "I dont care. Ill play it and leave positive because of crybabies " "Ouh no, someone from Zimbabwe cant buy it. No one cares." (because if someone is not from USA or central EU, then they are from Africa of course, Baltic states? Who are they? From EU? Must be their own fault) "Dont care if someone from war torn/sh*t countries cant buy it. Thats not my problem" (evne though when some of the countries are more advance then theirs, just smaller). But ouh they loved using these countries as a shield, when PSN account was mandatory.

[@ricardohoang8452]

@@HarrytheUnlucky Time to make it mostly negative again

[@ArthurianFables]

and stellar blade is still censored and no one talks about it neither.

[@summer7603]

Probably because its still has revealing costumes and the censorship wasnt so bad that most people dont care

[@nono-lz9qr]

@@summer7603 the only thing I’m pissed about is that I’ve heard they removed the blood sticking to your character. But I’ve also heard conflicting accounts of that. Do you know if they’ve gotten rid of that or not?

[@Spectrum0122]

Because the studio said they weren't gonna do anything. What else is there to talk about until they try to make a new game

[@summer7603]

@@nono-lz9qr no there's been nothing de censored its still there anyone saying otherwise is lying

[@erkziltonz]

Who cares about that game anymore though? It was $120 aud, so didn't get it just on principle.

[@Hamael_Surk]

I'm waiting for more new enemies

[@sephiroth8377]

Im there with ya. More enemies, maps, stratagems, vehicles and a whole faction of new enemies maybe called The Illuminate or something along those lines. Chuck in some gun customisation and gun upgrades and BOOM, we got the things from HD1

[@IncognitoActivado]

Delusional.

[@chiquikris171]

@@sephiroth8377 So many things need fixing before all the good things, even then, adding allat would even bring more problems to the table

[@sephiroth8377]

@@chiquikris171 Im no coder but I believe there's different departments for creative side and technical and mechanical side of things. Im only guessing because a friend built a basic game about 20 years ago or so and I remember him trying to get someone to make the creative art side of it, he'd already built the systems and that side of it On my end as a PS5 user, I don't see anything that needs fixing either but I've heard it is a different side for PC players

[@Azure_Iolite]

​@@sephiroth8377but you're forgetting that Arrowhead is a small studio, and many of the developers work in multiple departments, the coding team and the creative art team are one in the same

[@jason2mate]

Thank you editor for pointing out how shocking this is, a Paradox head honcho being the CEO, means that they likely will try and cram lots of stuff into this game that no player wants.

[@totally_not_a_bot]

CEO = The fall guy Remember that the big decisions are someone else's fault. The CEO manages people and talks to the press. When you see a CEO change, there's stuff behind the scenes you don't see. As in, there's a reason the old CEO left and it probably isn't money. So, this is a big "we shall see."

[@orwhynotrandom]

Oh shit this will make or break the game

[@cobytang]

It breaks it for sure. I stopped buying Paradox games since CKIII, and what do you know, it falls perfectly within this guy's tenure.

[@ColeRum-p3d]

@@N0buKi He's obviously talking about the future of the game not the present lol, nice big brain move there genius

[@anstorner]

@@N0buKi Declining it is, now you dont see over 100k players now even at peak hour, each patch it diminished. Either this saves it or will be the end of the road.

[@Ciffer-1998]

@@ColeRum-p3d yes and thats exactlly what he is saying, it can only go down from here or nothing could change but something coming good from this is just a dream

[@danielr3587]

I actually like the EU4 DLC Policy. The game is old yet every year a new update comes that adds something fresh to the game making it more complex and interesting. Look at where the game was 5 years ago vs now. If they needed this kind of DLC policy to keep adding flavor and major updates to the game for the last 7 years I am all for it. To be fair EU4 is a strategy game not a shooter like Helldivers 2.

[@_lime.]

I kinda get people's worries, however there are some important things to note. 1. CEO is the head of the company, not necessarily the head of a particular project (Helldivers in this case) so he might not have the level of control to start pushing changes to the game. 2. A CEO does not have free reign to what they please, they are the head of the company's activities, but they are hired, and work at the direction of the board of directors. The board is then subordinate to the shareholders. Point 2 is extremely important in this case. Arrowhead is a private company, their stock is not publicly listed and is completely owned by it's founding members. Those founders are also the board members. Johan Pilestedt is one of those founders. This is why Pilestedt didn't say he was being replaced, or forced out, he said he hired Jorjani, because he did. CEOs are appointed by the board. So in other words don't worry, Jorjani is stepping in to help run the corporate side of things so that Pilestedt can focus on the games. This is a good move and will likely prove beneficial to the development of the game. Jorjani won't be able to do any bad stuff without Pilestedt signing off on it.

[@jedipow]

Plus the dlc side of things. I highly doubt the HD2 devs are gonna be okay with increasing the prices of war bonds going forward. And if they do...well we saw what happened with the PSN account pushback.

[@kesamek8537]

Cope is not a strategy.

[@lautarogomez9711]

​@@kesamek8537 Is not even worth it

[@highrider9168]

My palms are sweaty, knees weak arms are heavy... Theres vomit on my sweater already...

[@insaneyoohoo]

🍝

[@kokuutou92]

MILF'S SPAGHETTI

[@purplepason]

[Insert Destroyer name] Spaghetti

[@alexmax3502]

...Asmon's bald already...

[@swupwa]

my big and hard already

[@heckinmemes6430]

As a former EU4 player, I welcome the Helldiver community to the update cycle. Look forward to; "Automata update 1 - 14.99. Bug Update 1 - 14.99. New decals pack - 8.99. A new button changes the color of your bullets from yellow to other yellow 5.99(This one will be mandatory for new missions pack). New mission Pack(Same as old missions but you get to do 33% more damage against faction of your choice when switching gun to other yellow[Selection limited to once per character])."

[@ministryofwrongthink6962]

On the other hand, I would understand why he wants to move to Narrative lead instead of CEO.. that was a lot of heat he just took (some justified, some not) I can't blame him at all for wanting to get away from that again.

[@hafirenggayuda]

Got a feeling things probably would get worse, and he don't want to take part on it

[@summer7603]

You imply he had a choice... Sony definitely chopped his paycheck and demoted him to hire a new cheaper CEO to milk the game after the refund wave retroactively smashed a chunk of their previous sales numbers which will be reflected in the quarterly earnings call.

[@ghostlyswat12]

@@summer7603Sony doesn’t own arrowhead they are a independent company

[@summer7603]

@@ghostlyswat12 They own the IP for the game the devs directly work for them. They are anything but independent. You can call them an indie company though but Sony owns their balls when it comes to helldivers, Sony can swap them out for other devs if they break contract.

[@ghostlyswat12]

@@summer7603 except if they swapped the devs out the game would die we saw what happens with psn if Sony replaces arrowhead the fans would leave Arrowhead has its own wiggle room

[@albericosessa2814]

Arrowhead needs to leave Sony honestly

[@audriusskebas3099]

I am pretty sure Sony owns the Helldivers IP so if Arrowhead left they would just get replaced with another dev team

[@audriusskebas3099]

@Titus.70bce Pretty sure Sony owns the Arrowhead dev studio

[@Gestrayhan]

@@audriusskebas3099 nah bro they are not, they own the IP but not the studio. You gotta see the history of Arrowhead studio first, Pilestedt is one heck of a dev in Sweden, he and others developed their games when they were still in uni days (Magicka and shit). They have published their games on 2 other developers before, and they got f*ked on the first one (they even said that they thought working together with a small publisher would be easier than with a big publisher, they were wrong, hence they sticked to Sony from HD1 to HD2). Again Sony DIDN'T own AH, but they sure owns the IP of Helldivers

[@albericosessa2814]

Bruh why corporations must win

[@Ale-dd3ek]

Sony owns Helldivers IP Even if they part from Sony the game stays under Sony radar Same reason why Fromsoftware Can't make Bloodborne 2 even if Miyazaki wanted

[@Dwealdric]

I've never seen a game so good be so poorly mis-managed.

[@insertoyouroemail]

Brand destruction seems to be the theme of the decade..

[@iller3]

yes you have ... it just took them a lot longer (you know who...)

[@judyfps5059]

might i interest you in the tale of Tarkov

[@RhazOfRheos]

When 2 different ideals collide.

[@hafirenggayuda]

​@@iller3yeah, HD2 just happen to be pounced faster than the others. It TELLS a lot about our current gaming industry

[@kareger3708]

The funniest shit is that Paradox stole the whole Magicka franchise from Arrowhead when they were their publisher. And now they have a CEO from that publisher hired? How tf is that even possible.

[@TheCosmicAstro-]

Important clarification. Pilestedt is still the chairman of the company. So he still has a lot of pulling power. Pilestedt in the recent fiasco that is the state of the game, has been seeing the community PLUMMET and be extremely unhappy with balance and whatnot in the game, decided to have meetings with the team and has say some very promising things that the community is very happy to see. Now came out that he is taking more time to help balance the game which is GOOD. The balance team for helldivers 2 are MUPPETS. Theyve fucked it up very clearly and piles seems to be the only one who actually understands the community and the state of the game. Its pure speculation as to if sony forced him to step down. Regardless of whether they did or didnt. This is a huge W for helldivers 2 players.

[@rodrigorubio8545]

Copying this comment from another video, just to give some extra context: "Pilestedt is still Chairman, Founder, and primary Owner of Arrowhead Game Studios, the company name is partially from HIS name. He's stepping away from the CEO seat because he prefers creative work rather than business crap. Sony does not own Arrowhead, Sony does not have a say in the management of Arrowhead, and if Jorjani steps out of line Pilestedt is still his boss and can fire him at any time. Why was Jorjani chosen? Because he was the business guy they worked with when they published Magika and did right by them then. Yes he's from Paradox, but he's OLD Paradox, employee number 23, one of the guys that made it a behemoth, not one of the idiots currently driving it into the ground, he left in 2021 and has been doing indie work since, last thing I can find with his name on it is Xenonauts 2"

[@orionhan2431]

strike 1 : ex-Paradox leadership strike 2 : supports Sony forcing players data mining and banning players

[@l1ghtd3m0n3]

strike 3: has implied it was actually Sony's decision

[@ShaggyRogers1]

Literally anyone other than the Chief Business Director would have been a good poach from Paradox. You can't lay the DLC pricing and sheer quantity on literally anyone else at Paradox but the CEO who approved it and the Chief Business Director who has direct responsibility over such decisions. Paradox games are absolute bangers until you realize that they charge "DLC" prices for what are effectively minor updates.

[@ghaelis]

One question. Arrowhead is a private company. How would Sony force it's CEO to quit.

[@Helwing.]

Sony can't.

[@momma_bal]

That's simple They can't.

[@deadheadronin1392]

Have some faith people, Helldivers 2 is Sony new golden goose they wouldn’t dare to mess this up, this is a good thing he’s demoting himself to have all his time focused on the game due to the horrible balancing the other devs has been doing, so don’t be to quick to clutch your pearls over all this is a great thing going forward for the game and community, having the CEO now CCO directly working on the game I trust in him to do the right things for the game, his passion for this community is really noticeable.

[@mikehunt4265]

Except both Sony and arrowhead have messed it up for a while now which is why the game is in the state it's in

[@Raethrean]

This guy is just going to circle around and try this shit again once the smoke clears

[@patwhw]

What are you yapping about?

[@loner9832]

@@patwhw PSN LINK if that shit happens i will ask for a refund.

[@patwhw]

@@loner9832 Wtf does that have to do with Pilestedt lol?

[@fallenred1119]

I would like to point something out that our great editor friend failed to mention: The new CEO is from Pre-2022 Paradox, and was one of the 23 original employees from Paradox. The Paradox DLC fiasco only really started post-2022, which was after he had left the company. Take the info with a grain of salt, and do your own research.

[@Toto-95]

Dude was DEFINITELY pressured to step down. 100%

[@Tazreale]

Yep, Sony had them axe Spitz, then force that dude to step down.

[@deadheadronin1392]

No, I really don’t think so. He’s been talking every where about how he want to handle the game himself because how bad the the creative team has been doing.

[@patrickrogers9689]

Considering Pilestedt is one of the founders of the company and is the chairman, and arrowhead is not a publicly traded company, nobody can pressure him to do a damn thing he doesn’t want to with respect to internal company organization

[@lucasd1887]

tell me you dont know how private companies work without telling me you dont know... you know the rest

[@SimianBastard]

@@patrickrogers9689 not to mention the fact that he already had to step in and steer them in the right direction in terms of balance while being the CEO. my guess is that soon after he agreed on twitter that the nerfing was problematic. He had started juggling CEO duties and the chief creative officer duties at the same time. (while also essentially being a part time CM on top). And this is just him picking a lane before he burns out

[@supersonic4863]

welp. thats it for helldivers as a franchise. it was a good run, even if absurdly short.

[@danielkelsosmith]

David Editennbrough, thank you for your services.

[@vlanson6529]

To everyone freaking out about the new CEO possibly ruining everything, Pilestedt still has majority shares of Arrowhead and most of the Executive power. Meaning if things go wrong, Pilestedt is more than capable of fixing it.

[@discountdisco2273]

At this point it's Schrödinger's Helldivers... MOOOOM! I'm scared!!

[@surv2320]

The new CEO will still answer to Pilestedt as he is the chairman. Basically the new CEO will just do administrative work. Helldivers 2 is in good hands. Trust in Pilestedt

[@Calslock]

Nah, maybe once he stops caring about whining babies on HD discord who want to nerf all the weapons...

[@lucasd1887]

@@Calslock Actually, his takes on the weapons indicates he is in favor of buffing. He said he thinks that time to kill is too long

[@mikehunt4265]

If it was in good hands it wouldn't be in the situation it's in now

[@sb17899]

@@mikehunt4265 The reason why it was in this situation in the first place is because the dude didn't have time to actually work on the game because he was too distracted by being the CEO and having to juggle business and game development at the same time.

[@ThePointlessBox_]

Helldivers 2 is more of a rollercoaster ride than disney could ever hope to put in their parks

[@StriKe_jk]

When Editor starts his own channel let us know ❤

[@ArchineOne]

Every loves to doom. I really think he stepped down voluntarily as he can now just focus on making good games instead of dealing with all the corpo shit. That’s the impression I got judging by all his tweets

[@climid]

Ive got a bad feeling about this....

[@DaniMacYo]

CEO just got nerfed too. Nothings off limits.

[@hightierplayers2454]

It will be the beginning of the neverending decline of HD2 if they go the route of Stellaris and other Paradox franchises as of late. I like Stellaris, but I'm not spending the hundreds for all the tiny crappy "dlc" that single modders manage to do in a week but they claim took their entire studio months if not a year to make.

[@numnaut1314]

Speaking as someone who spent way too much money on Stellaris I'll have to agree 100%.

[@Foogi9000]

The only way to enjoy Paradox games fully is to pirate them imo.

[@huuphuup1526]

You really have no idea what you're talking about, no mod made in a week is close to as significant as the latest dlc, and almost every dlc the modders are excited to have more stuff that actually works to build off of

[@ponca1813]

Just pirate paradox games, only reason to buy them is to play with friends.

[@TheGabller]

Dev studio CEOs aren't making calls on what goes into the game in terms of content/updates. The Game Director is in charge of the direction the game is heading in, not the CEO. CEOs aren't even the ones who handle pricing of DLC, and the like, they're mostly there to manage people who manage people. The publisher is who decides prices, in this case that would be SONY.

[@marco12377]

Editor doing Asmon's homework once more, again...

[@YamiYuji]

"When one goes, so goes the other" - Thane (from Darksiders 2)

[@MauiBread]

welp this is make or break, Helldivers has had issue after issue with corpo greed and overall bs. Atleast we have new Elden Ring DLC dropping in a month.

[@Rexhunterj]

Oh look shiny new thing to distract me from the woes so I can forget about it and let the evil corporations continue to be evil!

[@Foogi9000]

God bless Fromsoft, they have their issues ofc but compared to every other company they're actually invested in making good games with no mtx.

[@danieln6700]

It's Annoying af. Can't just have a free win. Want to find that balance of milking it more without loosing enough players that it's beneficial regardless of whether the players enjoy it

[@gigachad6738]

Miyazaki save us

[@Horse_Puncher]

He still is the founder of the company, he still makes all the decisions, just he doesn't have to do all the paperwork. HD2 isn't changing one bit. Correction, it's changing for the better.

[@MikeZeroX]

*Un-nerf the weapons*

[@DaxRaider]

no! they were fuuuucking broken and only the weakest players used them anyway because of how broken they were

[@summer7603]

Dont worry the new CEO will release a new batch of weapons for $$$ that do more than what you have

[@summer7603]

@anidiotmakesthings No no you dont get it. Super Freedom and Super Libertea warbonds will become available for Democracy.

[@ZEN-RIA]

​@anidiotmakesthingsno you dummy! that doesn't make money, we need premium warbonds for 10000 SC obviously /s

[@KnightKiller1000]

I’ve looked up the Crusader Kings 2 collection and it costs $325 for ALL of that, even with a 60% off still $125 spent for one game with a LOT of DLC. And here I thought CoD/BF Season Pass was a joke, but this is closer to spending on Gacha Rolls for your Waifus! It’s nuts!

[@Volcano22207]

… you didn’t look at stellarus

[@SpeedyManCharles]

For added context, Pilestedt is still the Chairman of Arrowhead. So Shams will NOT be able to make those types of decisions about monetization. And since Pilestedt is chairman he still has avenues to go after sony about the locked regions

[@LeroxYT]

Well i kinda need to interfere with the editor here, that shams guy was only paradox chief Business Developer officer from 2019-2021 and the really bad pay2win and paywall paradox games started to come out about 2 years ago, when he wasnt in charge anymore. So im not too sure about that.

[@TheFirstExelion]

This isn't asmongold's channel, this is the editor reacting to asmongold and then giving perfect context and based opinions.

[@phoxpharms]

Everyone talking about Arrowhead's CEO like the CEO isn't SONY. Sony has all the power over HD2. 180 countries STILL locked out of a game they thought they owned.

[@welton9748]

You see a sudden change like this nowadays you know he was forced to do it. And as usual it's not a change for the better

[@kyloben8537]

Pilestedt is still chairman of arrowhead and is therefore the boss of any new CEO, he also maintains direct creative control as part of his new role. and since Sony does not technically own arrowhead they can't directly force them to do anything unless it is part of their contractual obligation, at least I don't think they fully own arrowhead, maybe partially though

[@Jacks42685]

History will know this as the beginning of the end of Helldivers.

[@MrJekken]

As long as the actual owners of the company keep their heads on straight and keep the CEO in his lane of handling administrative type things rather than having the last word on any fundamental decisions concerning their games creatively or in terms of business model, then it will hopefully not be too bad

[@TogameRosecraft]

Somehow, I'm not surprised~ 🌹🌹🌹

[@crusaderkaiser2000]

I’ve played a large portion of paradox’s titles, and that dlc thing is no joke. It’s killing the grand strategy scene, which is funny because Paradox is the only company really in it these days. Anyways, this might suck, ngl.

[@Constatine95]

Ya as someone who has been a loyal Helldiver since day one launch, this shocked me. Pilestedt was like our champion. Him not being the CEO anymore only makes me extremely worried for the future of one of the only online games I've ever really clicked with.

[@sb17899]

He still has the final say since he is Chairman of the board.

[@momma_bal]

Eh im sure it's not that big of an issue Johan still owns the studio so if the new Ceo does poorly he can fire him and be the CEO again. Or that's what I've read at least, i could be wrong (somebody correct me if I'm wrong (

[@sypai1337]

If a Community Notes type feature was in Steam, you know damn well which explanation would be voted for by players

[@XANDERcanDRAW]

The arrowhead is pointing down.

[@dineshsadhwani3717]

Not Stonks :/

[@phileascurtil5605]

Paradox game player here: Each game/DLC has a different team and policies about how DLC are made are a little bit different. The bad rated games (Victoria III) and DLC (CK3 persia and whatever DLC from Stellaris) are especially bad rated ones. In general, we accept because the price for a type of DLC did not changed in years (hum hum CA) and it's mostly high quality DLC with a lot of content. And you have to understand that a DLC, if you fully play it, is at least 200-400h on EU4. The last DLC (8th may), I played one game (60h for now but I could push more to go to 100h) and there are at least 12 new nations mission trees. The problem is that yes if you want the full DLC package for a 10 years old but still updated game you need to pay around 570€ at full price but they are half of the time at 50% on steam. Otherwise, if you only want to play until the release of EU5 (in less than 2 years), you can subscribe for 5€/month and get full access to all DLC. Last option, just crack it. I did it for years before buying everything at 60%. If you compare the price/hour, it's 100x cheaper than any AAA games. The full lifespan of the game is almost infinite but waaay over 1k hours, more like 4-5k at least.

[@Forum_Mongol_Indonesia]

RIP Helldivers 2.

[@dusk2308]

yea it was fun while it lasted

[@frostydastonedman9744]

Pilestedt is still the chairman which arguably has a bigger pull than the CEO, and I doubt that after the PSN debacle that they will try to pull anymore fuckery on the playerbase

[@MysticLGD]

Dang

[@Shizuka965]

Oh noes. Be prepared for helldivers2 with a fuck ton of DLCs that should have been base game content💀

[@Croutonking65]

You know, the community notes thing for Steam doesn’t sound like that bad of an idea. They’re still getting review bombed, but that’ll give context for people who don’t know why it’s being negatively reviewed

[@engineergaming1669]

Yea community notes are actually a good thing, a lot of misinformation is stopped by it too

[@scettzvill]

the request for a community notes feature can be interpreted in 1 of 2 ways. either negative, using community notes to subvert and dismiss review scores (one of the last ways the playerbase has to openly communicate displeasure with a product/company) or positively, using community notes to further bolster the review scores by giving a thorough, yet small, explanation as to why the review score suddenly takes a hit. Shams just asking for this feature doesn't mean anything, unless we know more about the person and his stance on gaming in general. however, community notes are, much like Wikipedia, prone to policing by majority rule. which, in some cases, will drive a wedge between a community, and ultimately make for a more toxic environment.

[@Fi_Sci_]

Pilestedt made his issues known with balancing specifically. Having him work more closely with each team rather than handling the busy work will put Helldivers 2 in an enjoyable place. It’s unfortunate PSN is still an ongoing issue restricting others from spreading managed democracy. Bright side is at least Pilestedt’s in a better position to help the Helldivers stationed currently. As for the new CEO only time will tell.

[@yadayadayadayadayadayada777]

HD2 is gonna be dead in a year tops. Every Warbond gonna be a DLC, every Ship upgrade a DLC. 2,99 here, 3,99 there and a new Vehicle in the game for just 6.99.

[@detrome]

At this point the editor is my news source

[@UsernameNotTaken2]

Dang, I really like Pilestedt for the sole reason that he sounded like he just wanted to make a cool game which is nice to see from a CEO (Even if it sounds like he may of made a mistake when it comes to conversations with Sony) It is 100% understandable that he want's to step down and take a job that's more focused on the game aspect instead of the business aspect as that did sound like that was where his passion is and he probably had a lot of hate directed at him with the PSN changes which is- well- kinda horrificly stressful... but it's kinda worrying hearing the change- knowing there's a publisher hovering over that is for some reason still blocking countiries for seemingly no reason

[@hunkulous1462]

Editor appreciates Paradox games I love his unbiased facts in every video

[@arandombard1197]

In defence of Stellaris, the most recent DLC is an absolute banger and we're loving it.

[@Aro9313]

There shouldn't be this many DLCs. Period.

[@Volcano22207]

I simply pirated most of the dlc after spending 180$ on less then a third of it Then realized the game wasn’t good partially because the dlc makes it disjointed and less cohesive

[@accidentalgenius5026]

So what happened is that the game community has proven they are insufferable and being a good ceo doesn’t work either so now the next option is to hire a ceo who doesn’t give a shit, well done helldivers community.

[@Cuestrupaster]

I love how the editor is very clear with the paradox segment, because they do have amazing games, but yeah what's been going on lately isn't great.

[@roshambo4137]

The editor is basically Asmon's own personal Twitter community notes

[@hydrq9696]

The editor really just hijacked Asmon reaction to give his own opinion and I am proud of him

[@Mr.Heller]

He's right about community notes for Steam tbh, if it doesn't include additional features like making reviews not count of course.

[@TheCandidPygmy]

I saw a video a few moments ago from a pretty popular Helldivers youtuber that said the player count was down because there weren't enough game modes. Why is so much of the remaining community in full blown denial? The fact is that Sony took their best seller behind the shed and put it down. Now they're puppeting it's corpse around while telling us, "He's just feeling a bit under the weather. He'll get better soon." They killed it, man. They killed it and it's not gonna get better. It's just bleeding out in front of us now.

[@dard2240]

It's not about watching asmongold anymore. Everyone here for the editor.

[@DavidBrocekArt]

Hot take: Let's not pretend that ALL business decisions come from the CEOs. It's usually a big meeting by like ten people. So just because this guy was greedy in the past doesn't mean all of his ideas will come to pass just because he is the CEO.

[@raineheartily4580]

As people confused about this thing. This is Linus move on LTT As the company got big, the CEO will spend most of his time running the company, not making games/content. He chuck that job to someone and want to focus himself in game development