After days of speculation, Arrowhead Game Studios has finally announced what many fans have been waiting for: a proper Halo: ODST collaboration with Helldivers 2. Revealed in a blog post on PlayStation and Xbox’s official websites, Helldivers 2 is getting a Warbond themed entirely around Bungie’s 2009 FPS. Scheduled to launch alongside the game’s upcoming Xbox port on August 26, this Warbond will include a plethora of cosmetics and in-game items, including two armor sets, two capes, an armor passive, and four weapons ripped straight from the Halo universe.
Despite being based on an Xbox-exclusive video game, Helldivers 2’s Halo: ODST content will be unlockable on all available platforms, including PlayStation 5.
Although Helldivers 2 is one of the biggest live service success stories in recent memory, it surprisingly hasn’t collaborated with many other franchises since its launch. This Halo-themed Warbond, in fact, is only the second piece of licensed crossover content that the game has ever received. Unlike most other live service games' developers, Arrowhead has been very selective about the types of IPs it chooses to collaborate with. That said, the last crossover that Helldivers 2 received was a tad controversial for various reasons. Fortunately, this new Halo: ODST Warbond seems to rectify a lot of the issues that were present in that first collab.
Helldivers 2's Halo Warbond is a Big Improvement Over the Killzone 2 Collab
Back in December, Arrowhead announced that Helldivers 2 would be receiving a new collaboration event themed around Guerrilla Games’ acclaimed PS3-exclusive FPS, Killzone 2. The crossover featured Superstore-exclusive content, which was released in two phases.
The first phase of this Helldivers 2's Killzone 2 crossover was released on December 18, 2024, and although the content it included was exciting, it was immediately met with backlash from fans due to its exorbitant pricing. The items in this phase all cost an unusually high amount of money and, to make matters worse, they were only available for a limited period of time.
The High Price Tag for Helldivers 2's Killzone 2 Content Irritated a Lot of Fans
In order to obtain the Killzone 2-themed armor set, assault rifle, cape, player card, and title that were featured in this part of the collaboration, players had to spend a total of 1,975 Super Credits. This, when converted to real-world money, amounted to about $20, which was effectively twice the amount of cash that a standard Warbond would cost. Arrowhead initially planned to charge money for the second phase of the Killzone 2 collaboration, as well, but after the backlash it received, the company decided to give the content away to all active Helldivers 2 players as an apology.
Arrowhead Has Responded to Fan Feedback With the Halo: ODST Warbond
It seems Arrowhead has learned its lesson from the Killzone 2 debacle, because the studio has decided to handle Helldivers 2’s Halo: ODST collaboration in a very different way. Instead of selling the Halo-themed items individually in the Superstore, Arrowhead has decided to bundle them together in a new tier of Warbond known as a Legendary Warbond.
Unlike regular Warbonds (which have a price tag of 1,000 SC), Legendary Warbonds cost 1,500 SC, or about $15. While the Halo: ODST Warbond does have a higher price tag than most of the content in Helldivers 2, it is still cheaper than the items in the Killzone 2 crossover event, and cheaper than some players may expect a crossover Warbond to be, so it’s an improvement nonetheless.
Since they're a more expensive tier of Warbond, players will not be able to unlock Legendary Warbonds with a Premium Warbond Token.
Unlike the Killzone 2 Content, the Halo: ODST Warbond Will Be Available in Helldivers 2 Permanently
Aside from its price tag, though, perhaps the best part about the Halo: ODST Legendary Warbond is that it will be available in Helldivers 2 permanently. Unlike with the Killzone 2 collab, players won’t have to worry about missing out on the content in this Halo crossover.
As is the case with Premium Warbonds, the Halo: ODST Legendary Warbond will not expire, so players will be able to progress through it at their own pace. While there are still some issues in Helldivers 2 that Arrowhead could address, it’s great to see the company actually take fan feedback into account with the game’s crossover content.
Helldivers 2
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 83 /100 Critics Rec: 91%
- Released
- February 8, 2024
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Arrowhead Game Studios, Nixxes
- Publisher(s)
- Sony Interactive Entertainment, PlayStation Publishing
WHERE TO PLAY
- Engine
- bitsquid
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
- All platforms
- Franchise
- Helldivers
- Number of Players
- 1-4 players (online)
- Genre(s)
- Third-Person Shooter, Extraction Shooter, Action, Science Fiction
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
