Helldivers 2 engine was discontinued in 2018: 'our crazy engineers had to do everything'

Helldivers 2 has burst onto the scene on PC and PlayStation 5, racking up 700,000+ concurrent players and overloading Arrowhead servers... with its engine discontinued back in 2018.

Say what? Helldivers 2 was created on the Autodesk Stingray engine, which was discontinued in 2018. This means the engine hasn't had any updates over the last six years, leaving developer Arrowhead needing to put in some considerable work to squeeze everything they could -- and wanted -- from Helldivers 2.

Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt confirmed the news in a post on X that explained: "This is true. Our crazy engineers had to do everything, with no support to build the game to parity with other engines. And yes. The project started before it was discontinued".

The original Helldivers was powered by the same engine when it was released in 2015, something that is called Bitsquid -- and was later known as Autodesk Stingray. The engine powered the original Helldivers, Escape Dead Island, Hamilton's Great Adventure, Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide, and Warhammer: Vermintide 2.

Helldivers 2 went into production before the engine was discontinued, forcing the developer to do the work themselves and turn the engine into what they needed. The result is incredible, as the game looks absolutely fantastic, something you would've seen as I'm sure you have played the game by now if you're reading this.

If you haven't played Helldivers 2 yet, I highly suggest you do. If you're a fan of Starship Troopers, then this game will be one of the best things you'll experience in 2024.