Helldivers 2 dev warns players not to 'fall in love' with datamined content that might never come out: 'Some are ancient leftovers, some are things that will pop up in the game'

The Helldivers 2 community has demonstrated a ravenous appetite for new stuff. Guns, stratagems, suits, helmets, boosters—Arrowhead has kept the update hose spraying these last two months, but that hasn't stopped players from looking deep within the code to find stuff yet to come. Through datamining, players have discovered unreleased vehicles, guns, and armor pieces that are likely destined for a future warbond or galactic war event.

But not all of them. One Arrowhead dev would like to remind players that just because datamined content is there, doesn't mean it'll ever see the light of day.

"I don't look at datamined stuff, and I would avoid falling in love with it," replied Arrowhead dev Evil-Bosse to a fan on the Helldivers 2 Discord server. "Some are old leftovers, some are ancient leftovers, some are things that will pop up in game."

That fan was referring to datamined armor sets, including some recolors of the basic Helldivers armor that look pretty slick. It's a good idea to not put too much stock in leaks—no matter how much I'd love a yellow or olive green makeover for my favorite armor—but much of what's been gleaned from Helldivers 2's code so far has turned up in the game. 

The guns that'd eventually come with the Democratic Detonation warbond, like the Adjudicator marksman rifle, have been kicking around on Reddit leak threads for over a month. The same goes for mechs before they eventually showed up in-game, and we're still waiting for those wheeled vehicles that cheaters have been playing with for over a month. Vehicles seem far along enough in development that they're sure to come out at some point, but other leaked stratagems floating around are so unfinished that it's entirely possible that they're scrapped ideas still lingering in the code.

What I learned from years of covering leaks in shooters is that sometimes these new discoveries are just around the corner, other times they're years away, and often they're something that a studio prototyped but abandoned. For that reason, I tend not to see leaks as promises of what's to come, but a preview of what might happen. 

With the new warbond out and a reinforced Automaton offensive in full swing, this could be one of Helldivers 2's quieter weeks, but Arrowhead has been vocal about a few community requests: CEO Johan Pilestedt says transmog armor system is out of the question, and we probably won't get melee weapons anytime soon either.