Helldivers 2 Players Petition for the Return of Fired Community Manager

gamerant.com:

Helldivers 2 players started a petition calling on developer Arrowhead Game Studios to rehire community manager Spitz. With the recent PlayStation Network account-linking controversy finally at an end, much of the Helldivers 2 community has begun to shift focus back to the Galactic War. However, some fans were still dismayed upon hearing of the recent dismissal of Spitz from the official Discord channel and are doing all they can to gather their fellow players in support of the former community manager.

For context, Spitz was one of the community managers for the Helldivers 2 Discord channel, who became a controversial figure in the days following the account-linking update announcement. Many players slammed Spitz after he made several comments that they believed disparaged the fans outraged by the PSN account requirement. However, some users forgave the former community manager after he posted a public apology and encouraged PC players to flood the Helldivers 2 Steam page with negative reviews in the hopes of convincing publisher Sony to retract the requirement. While his advice was arguably intended to help the community channel their feedback, it also reportedly led to his involuntary termination.

Now, some Helldivers 2 players are calling for his reinstatement with a petition on change.org. Nicknaming themselves «Spitz's Roughnecks,» these users believed the eponymous Spitz had done enough to redeem himself. The petition itself specifically called for Arrowhead Game Studios to bring back Spitz as a community manager for the official Discord channel, claiming that Spitz's suggestion was one of the reasons why so many of them did not refund the game and that he additionally deserved the honor of being canonized in Helldivers 2 lore as «General Spitz.»

At the time of writing, the petition boasts over 3,600 signatures since it was opened. While it's far from equalling the entirety of the devoted Helldivers 2 player base, the petition has notably only been active for