In the past couple of years, there’s been a growing trend of big gaming companies acquiring studios. One studio that won’t be getting acquired any time soon, however, is Arrowhead Game Studios. The developer of 2024’s multiplayer hit Helldivers 2 recently had to address growing rumors on social media that the studio was being acquired by none other than PlayStation, which is decidedly not happening.
The rumor that PlayStation would be acquiring Arrowhead originated on March 5 from a post on X (formerly Twitter) by user @NextGenPlayer declaring, “Arrowhead has been acquired by Sony says new rumors,” and that an official announcement was “supposedly” on the way. It was accompanied by an image of the PlayStation Studios and Arrowhead Game Studios logos next to each other with the text, “Welcome to the family.” Some people found this claim possible considering that PlayStation is the publisher behind both Helldivers games. Johan Pilestedt, CEO of Arrowhead, responded to the claim saying that it was fake, “unless I’ve missed something.” Pilestedt also humorously pointed out the fake image used a “shitty” version of the studio logo from 2008. In response to more posts about the fake claim, Pilestedt continued to say this is the first he had heard of it, which is a good indication it isn’t true.
With PlayStation publishing Helldivers 2, many fans have gotten the impression that Arrowhead will be or has already been acquired. Just one day before the fake image announcing an acquisition, one user on social media claimed the game was made by a Sony-owned studio and would not come to Xbox. Pilestedt responded to this by reiterating that the studio is independently owned by its founders and no one else, including Sony. Meanwhile, Helldivers 2 is only getting better after release. The latest news from Arrowhead is that mechs will be joining the battlefield in the near future, which will surely only add to the chaos of the co-op shooter.
