Helldivers 2 has been 2024's live service hit, a lot of which is down to how developer Arrowhead manages the overarching Galactic War with constant Major Orders, while being highly reactive to player behaviour. Usually that finds expression with things like exceptional rewards for exceptional heroics, though sometimes it even bleeds outside of the game itself: such as when the Helldivers chose to save a kids' hospital for no rewards, and Arrowhead responded with a $4,300 donation to Save the Children.
Now for the first time some of the real world has found its way into Helldivers 2. Last week an update from Crowdstrike caused global IT chaos, affecting over 8.5 million Windows and Linux machines worldwide: this was serious business, impacting airlines, train companies, health and emergency services, and all the way down to whether you could buy a coffee. Loading up Helldivers 2 currently, which sees you begin the game on the bridge of your Destroyer spacecraft, sees the following "Systems Update" message:
