Helldivers 2 Director Urges Game Developers to Embrace Risk and Innovate Beyond Trends

The creative director of Helldivers 2, Johan Pilestedt, sharply criticized the wave of layoffs in the industry during his speech at GDC 2025. He stated that the cutbacks have become excessively harsh, urging companies to learn from their mistakes to make the «cycle of death and rebirth» less painful.

The developer believes that the current situation stems from poor decisions made by company leaders. He pointed out that they blindly chase trends and rushed to create more battle royales simply because a few of them achieved success.

Pilestedt acknowledges that layoffs will always be a part of the industry, but emphasizes the need to mitigate their scale and brutality. To do this, he suggests taking risks and developing more diverse games to meet the demands of an ever-growing gaming audience.

According to Pilestedt, many publishers tend to play it safe, which ultimately turns into «death sentences» for studios.

He also addressed game design, asserting that the primary goal of game development is to provide players with engaging experiences. If developers strip away all the chaos from a project, it becomes simply uninteresting. «It’s crucial to maintain balance. If you overdo the smoothing out of edges, it can result in a bland game,» Pilestedt believes.

The developer further connected this discussion to the lack of variety in games, noting that many developers flock to the same niches without offering anything new.

Pilestedt concluded his speech by encouraging studios to embrace risks, as this could help prevent widespread failures driven by trend-chasing. «Create your games based on the foundations and style of your studio. Don’t imitate others; think about what you want to create and stake your claim on that,» the director stated.