Helldivers 2 studio Arrowhead recently saw some big leadership changes, as the third-person shooter’s creative director Johan Pilestedt stepped down as CEO and passed the reins to Paradox Interactive veteran Shams Jorjani. Pilestedt is now chief creative officer, with Jorjani’s takeover of his former role allowing him to “focus more on games and not have to deal with HR policies.”
As well as working at Paradox Interactive for 12 years, Jorjani is also the chairman of the board for Manor Lords publisher Hooded Horse, which announced his new role saying that he’ll now “also be helping one of the coolest game studios on the planet.” Responding to this, Hooded Horse’s community director Matt Palacio, wrote: “I’m ready for the Helldivers x Hooded Horse game crossovers. Democracy for every game.”
Jorjani hasn’t shut this down at all in fact, he’s done quite the opposite by inviting ideas from the community, asking: “What would be the best crossover?” Fans were quick to add their two cents with suggestions ranging from games Hooded Horse has published, like Mars Tactics, to others it hasn’t like Deep Rock Galactic and Killzone. Even Pilestedt himself has joined in on the discussion, saying that a standalone crossover game with the 28-year-old military sim series Close Combat “would be a dream,” even if he doesn’t think it could actually happen.
“I mean, a Close Combat X Helldivers would be a dream,” he writes. “Hardcore tactical [military sim] set in HD universe, flanking, stratagems, suppressive fire, cover and [line of sight]. Could be called ‘SEAF.’ A man can dream though… I don’t think it would be financially feasible, but I would play it. But as a standalone game [of course].”
The first Close Combat game was released in 1996, although its most recent installment was launched in 2019 to mixed reviews on Steam. Clearly, Pilestedt doesn’t have high hopes for making his dream come true, but his enthusiasm does back up the sentiment previously shared by Arrowhead community manager Thomas Petersson, who hinted that the studio is open to crossovers if they “make sense,” but “we don’t want to be Kingdom Hearts or Fortnite.”
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