Arrowhead Game Studios published a statement defending the inclusion ofGameGuard anti-cheat in Helldivers 2 and explains the reasons why the studio decided to implement it.
As you may know, one of the most widespread criticisms in the negative reviews of Helldivers 2 on Steam is precisely the use of this anti-cheat system that acts on the kernel, believed by many since too invasive and potentially dangerous for the security of your personal data.
With a post published by Steam in the form of a Q&A, the team responded to all the criticisms and concerns of the community. First, it is confirmed that GameGuard works at the Kernel level and that this is in fact necessary to ensure its effectiveness. It is also specified that DRM does not remain installed on the PC once Helldivers 2 is uninstalled, as suggested by some, and that it does not collect any personal information from users. Furthermore, the study states that in terms of performance it does not have a negative impact worthy of note, at least according to the tests conducted.
Why use an anti-cheat in a cooperative game?
Arrowhead Games also explained why it was necessary to add GameGuard in a cooperative game like Helldivers 2, which is a title in which players don't compete with each other.
“First and foremost, we want everyone to have fun playing Helldivers 2, whether with friends, ex-friends, or strangers. We've seen in some of our games and others that rampant cheating tends to have a very negative effect on the availability of players to play, especially with strangers. The second reason is the Galactic War, a huge metagame in which all players (and game clients) participate. While we have other countermeasures, a cracked game client could make it easier to alter the results of the Galactic War, which would harm everyone's experience.”
To reiterate this concept, the studio took the first Helldivers as an example, which was devoid of any anti-cheat, where those who cheated in their own game irremediably compromised the progression of others. “When we released Helldivers 1 on PC there was no anti-cheat system implemented. Shortly after we noticed that there was a cheat going around that granted 9999 research champions. Unfortunately, even non-cheats in the same mission were granted 9999 research champions. These players had their entire progression ruined through no fault of their own. We managed to fix many of these teething issues without resorting to third-party fixes, but it took a lot of work, and most of it was done reactively.”
Criticism or not, in the meantime Helldivers 2 has reached 120,000 concurrent players on Steam, which represents by far the best result ever achieved by a game published by Sony PlayStation.
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