Helldivers 2's Rumored Xbox Port Is Not Happening

Back in April, an intriguing rumor was sparked by the XboxEra Podcast, suggesting that Sony Interactive Intertainment was in the "very early preliminary discussions" regarding the possibility of porting Helldivers 2, Arrowhead Game Studios' third-person shooter and one of 2024's most acclaimed games, to Xbox, its direct competitor's console. While the rumor remained just that, without any solid evidence to back it up, it gave many Xbox fans hope that they might soon be able to play the beloved democracy simulator on their favorite platform.

Unfortunately for them, XboxEra giveth and XboxEra taketh away, with the most recent episode of the podcast squashing the hope and dismantling the rumor it itself put into the wild. According to Shpeshal Nick, the Xbox port of Helldivers 2 is "not happening," though no explanation for Sony's apparent change of plans was shared.

Nick himself put forward the idea – while emphasizing it was only his personal theory – that Sony may have wanted Microsoft to cover the port's development and marketing costs, a business offer that the tech giant ultimately declined, thus eliminating the possibility of Helldivers 2 arriving on Xbox.

Interestingly, Nick's theory that the cancellation of Helldivers 2's Xbox port might be due to financial reasons ties into SIE's recent announcement about shutting down Firewalk Studios, the creator of Concord, along with a mobile developer, Neon Koi.

In addition to explaining why the studios were taken behind the barn, the announcement contained one of those typical corporate paragraphs that, at first glance, seemed to convey no information whatsoever and appeared to be included only to meet a word count. The paragraph in question emphasized Sony's plans to be "strategic in bringing our games to new platforms," and in the context of Concord – a game that by some calculations cost Sony $400 million – it might be interpreted as Sony aiming to become more careful about shot-in-the-dark financial investments to avoid similar costly failures.

If true, this might suggest that Sony isn't convinced that porting Helldivers 2 to Xbox would be worth the potential costs, and without being 100% certain, the company may be reluctant to make another risky bet. Of course, it's also possible that the idea of Helldivers 2 coming to Xbox was never on the table at all, and Shpeshal Nick was simply lied to. Only Sony knows the truth, and Sony isn't telling.

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