From “Arrow Stead” to Arrowhead, Helldivers 2’s Johan Pilestedt Reveals a New Origin Story in the Studio’s Lore
It all started with a simple translation.
On a surface level, Helldivers 2 may seem like a straightforward and one-dimensional video game that just requires players to shoot their way out of every situation and call it a day. However, the extensive and layered lore that Arrowhead Game Studios has created for its smash hit differentiates it from the rest of the competition, and it only makes sense for the origins to go even deeper than one might have previously expected.
With his latest revelation, game director and studio CEO Johan Pilestedt detailed the origin stories for the two names that have impressively made their way to millions of gamers’ radars in a relatively short period of time.
Pilestedt Details the Origins of the Helldivers 2 Name
In a recent conversation with publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation Blog, Johan Pilestedt provided more details about how the team came up with the names for the studio and its hugely successful video game. The title may feel self-explanatory since the game revolves around Super Earth’s soldiers diving into horrifying battlefields to fight against extremely dangerous factions, but Pilestedt revealed that the Helldivers sequel owes its name to two different phrases.
According to the director, the team joined the phrases “war is hell” and “diving into war” together to form Helldivers, which perfectly showcases exactly what players go through while playing the game.
To add another layer to the Helldivers name’s origins, Pilestedt shared that the title had stuck with him for a long time after he found out about a certain dive bomber from the Second World War. “I’ve always wanted to do something with it,” stated the Arrowhead Game Studios CEO regarding the Curtiss SB2C “Helldiver” dive bomber.
The CEO and Arrowhead Game Studios Share More in Common
Coming up with the name of a new game development studio is not the easiest thing to do, and naturally, Pilestedt and his team had to brainstorm quite a bit, but how did they land on Arrowhead? Well, the CEO revealed that when one translates his last name into English, “arrow stead” comes up as a result, and things started to become a lot clearer for the developer.
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Pilestedt stated that the name “Arrowhead” has a “serious company” aura around it, which could be interpreted in a variety of ways by different people, but the accompanying logo puts a more literal and comical spin on the title, making an interesting combination.
The Helldivers director also pointed out why Arrowhead is followed by the plural Game Studios, as Pilestedt aspires for the company to manage multiple development studios in the future.
It all started with just five LTU students, and their shared dream of changing the gaming industry is definitely going strong, especially with the recent victories that the Helldivers sequel has managed to achieve.
