After denials by Arrowhead Game Studios CEO and director Johann Pilestedt that Helldivers 2 has flying bugs—playfully dismissing it as propaganda by “bug sympathizers”—the studio boss has now acknowledged that “most bugs fly” and that the arrival of flying bugs was only ever a matter of time.
Taking to social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Pilestedt has offered a conflicting opinion to one shared earlier when players had originally started spotting flying Terminids as they took part in missions on the game’s Eastern front.
“I want to be very clear: I have always believed there to be a possibility of flying bugs,” said Pilestedt. “Everyone knows that “Most bugs fly” and it was only a matter of time before this strain would evolve naturally.”
While all of this is essentially just playful bantering between the studio boss and the Helldivers 2 player base, this interaction does build on the overall player-driven narrative that is currently unfolding in Helldivers 2. Flying variants of the bug-like Terminids were first spotted earlier this week while players were partaking in a major order to eradicate the Terminid population.
The next major update to Helldivers 2 will likely add a new type of Terminid enemy for players to face as they take part in the game’s overarching storyline. Along the way, mysterious blue lasers have also been spotted that could possibly indicate that a third enemy faction might get involved soon.
Helldivers 2 is available on PC and PS5. The game has been quite popular, not only being the best-selling titles in the US for February, but also having sold an estimated figure of over 8 million copies.