Have you had a recent encounter in Helldivers 2 that made you suspect you were playing alongside a developer from Arrowhead? If so, it’s entirely possible, though you wouldn’t have known it from any special signs or actions. According to a new post from Arrowhead, which aims to quell some of the swirling rumors about live testing, developers wouldn’t be conducting tests in-game during your session.
With everyone diving deep into the latest mission in the sprawling Galactic War, especially with the DSS now up and running smoothly, Arrowhead is addressing some chatter that emerged from Reddit. The buzz revolved around players who believed they stumbled upon developers because of unique colored names.
When questioned, Arrowhead community manager Katherine ‘Baskinator’ Baskin took to the Helldivers 2 subreddit to address this directly. “I’ve noticed discussions across various subs about seeing Helldivers with various colored names or markers, leading some to believe these are developers running live tests,” Baskin shared, urging the community to dismiss these rumors.
She was quick to clarify, “Currently, we don’t have or use any dev-specific tags or markers while playing. So, when we’re in Helldivers 2, our names are just like any other player’s.” Simply put, developers are incognito, mingling like regular players without any bright indicators.
Additionally, Baskin made it clear: “We don’t conduct game testing in a live play environment. If someone claims to be a developer and starts spawning items or exhibits weird behaviors, they’re exploiting the game. Stay alert, fellow Helldivers, and report any mischief to your Democracy Officer.”
So, next time you’re dodging lasers and grenades, remember that if you run into Arrowhead folks, they’re not testing anything, and they won’t suddenly transform into a sketchy version of Space Earth Santa.
In related news, Helldivers’ creative head Johan Pilestedt recently addressed a fan’s tweet, confirming that they’re still considering extending color customizations to include armor. It’s a work in progress, but they’re definitely looking into it.
Encountered any peculiar players claiming to be Helldivers 2 developers? We want to hear about it—let us know in the comments!
