Who The Heck Is Helldivers 2’s Grandmaster, Joel?
Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt recently opened up about Helldivers 2.
In an interview, Pilestedt let it leak that a single developer named “Joel” held the title Game Master.
Game master roles within the industry are pretty common and can be found under many titles.
However, it seems that Arrowhead Studios is trying to give Helldivers 2 a “god’ and that god’s name is Joel.
The studio, like many, has gained inspiration from tabletop Dungeons and Dragons.
Perhaps this explains the ploy to get the players to see Joel as a man behind the curtain.
However, previous tweets from the CEO contradict the idea that Helldivers 2 is being controlled solely by the all-powerful Joel.
Joel is not, as Palestedt said, “getting up in the middle of the night.”
Rather, game automation regenerates planets and retaliates against planetary liberation plans while players sleep. Unexpected leaps in popularity have necessitated an early change in the automation’s formula.
In-game conflicts often turn into social media wars, and it’s starting to look like that’s by design.
Meanwhile, Arrowhead seems perfectly happy to feed into the myth by claiming the almighty Joel is responsible for Helldivers.io. This tool is a community for players to track Galactic Wars progress that includes simplified game maps and more.
Despite the methodology behind this marketing, one thing for certain is that it’s working. Player numbers continue to increase all over the United States.
Because of that increase, speculation about direction continues to spread. Players have designated the game as unpredictable. Further muddying the waters is the announcement that Joel has set pieces to pull from depending on the direction the game takes.
We hear the prayers of Galactic War soldiers across the continent.
Dear Almighty Joel, are you even real?