Helldivers 2 Dev Says It Will 'Never' Add PvP Because It Wants to 'Reduce Toxic Elements' From the Community

ign.com:

Are you playing Helldivers 2 and wondering if the developers will ever add a player versus player mode? Don’t hold your breath — the boss of developer Arrowhead Game Studios has said it’s never going to happen.

Responding to a user on Twitter/X, Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt said the developer will “never” add PvP to Helldivers 2 in order to reduce “toxic elements” from the community.

“Hey; We'll ‘never’ add a PvP-mode,” Pilestedt said. “This is to reduce toxic elements from the community.

“We want an environment that's supportive, fun and where we all are fighting on the same side!”

Helldivers 2 is a co-op third-person shooter in which players squad up to take on alien bugs and automatons across big maps packed with over-the-top action, explosions, and a generous number of epic moments.

While there is no PvP mode, players are as much a danger to each other as they are to the enemy. Helldivers 2 is a game with friendly fire, which means a stray bullet from a squadmate can be disastrous. Turrets, too, can kill your friends, or even you, if you happen to get in their way. And devastating orbital strikes can be a menace to your friends as well as enemy outposts.

One of the cool things about Helldivers 2 is that players have established an ‘unspoken’ co-op etiquette, which is useful for a game in which voice comms are rarely used when playing with randoms. From what I can tell, griefing is an unusual occurrence in Helldivers 2, but it does happen. I’ve seen some players report they’ve encountered players who’ve engaged in a spot of teamkilling. Some are even orbital-striking the entire group as soon as they spawn onto the map, only to do it again seemingly just for a laugh. And teamkilling during an extraction, or kicking a teammate during extraction after a 40-minute mission does sometimes occur.

Pilestedt also responded to a user who accused Arrowhead of being “scared” to add PvP to Helldivers 2, denying that was the case. “Not scared,” Pilestedt said. “Just we don't want