Johan Pilestedt, CEO of Arrowhead and director of Helldivers 2, spoke about DLSS and FSR causing discussion in the community.
Helldivers 2 is certainly one of the surprises of 2024, with over 3 million copies sold in just two weeks after launch, 60% of which on the PC platform. Beyond the mere numbers however, a part of the community complains about the lack of support for the main super sampling technologies available, mainly DLSS and FSR, and shows a certain intolerance towards the graphic and gameplay critical issues connected to them.
In this regard, Johan Pilestedt – the CEO of Arrowhead and Creative Director of the title – intervened on X with a post, causing a lot of discussion among the players.
DLSS? “Nice but not necessary”
The post that sparked the controversy
The discussion, as often happens on social media, comes from a bad interpretation of the words of the Arrowhead boss. Intervened to respond to some users who defined DLSS and FSR as “basic features” for a video game, Johan Pilestedt said: “DLSS – nice technology, but not necessary. If I have to spend time, I prefer to use it as best I can to focus on the heart of the gameplay, which is the most important part of having a successful game.”
As often happens his words were transformed into “DLSS will never come to Helldivers 2”sparking the ire of many players.
The Director therefore has replied again to deny this: “I never said that! I just said gameplay > great technologies”, continuing “I love DLSS and other technologies that improve performance. But when I'm in a meeting and the question is 'more great content' vs 'more technology', the decision is easy…”.
Are DLSS and FSR really necessary for Helldivers 2?
Pilestedt's reply
Helldivers 2 is a title that does not require particularly high specifications to be fully enjoyed on PC, especially when compared to the most recent AAA games. Pilestedt explained why, attributing this feature to the fact that the weight of the game is mostly entrusted to the CPU, given that the engine “simulates almost everything”.
Thanks to this peculiarity, the game can run effortlessly even on PCs that are a few years old and on mid-range laptops, a factor that has certainly fueled the great success of Helldivers 2. In short, DLSS and FSR are truly fundamental features for modern games ?