Helldivers 2 has been available on PS5 and PC for over a year, but it isn't currently playable on Xbox Series X/S. This, of course, is due to the fact that the game is being published by PlayStation Studios, which has rarely released games on Xbox consoles. Since the Helldivers IP is owned by PlayStation instead of Arrowhead, Helldivers 2 wasn't expected to ever come to Xbox. Things changed, though, when PlayStation and Arrowhead announced last week that the game will be making its way to Xbox Series X/S on August 26, less than 19 months after its initial debut on PlayStation.
The Helldivers 2 on Xbox announcement sent the Helldivers community into a frenzy in more ways than one. While some people were excited that more gamers would finally get access to the critically-acclaimed shooter, others were upset that Xbox players were being given the opportunity to unlock some rare cosmetics that PlayStation and PC players couldn't get. For those who are unaware, Helldivers 2 featured three unique armor sets for players who purchased Helldivers 2 on PlayStation and PC before its official 2024 release date. These armor sets, however, are not currently unlockable within Helldivers 2, and the only way they can now be obtained is by pre-ordering the game's Xbox port.
Helldivers 2 Has Bad News for Xbox Game Pass Subscribers
Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Game Studios delivers some disappointing news to Xbox Game Pass Subscribers in the wake of a seismic announcement.
Arrowhead Game Studios Should Make Some Rare Helldivers 2 Cosmetics Accessible Again
Helldivers 2's Pre-Order Exclusive Armor Sets Will Be Making a Return in the Future
In response to some of the complaints from PlayStation and PC players about this debacle, an employee at Arrowhead Game Studios announced in a Discord post that the pre-order exclusive armor sets will become unlockable again to all players sometime in the future. Although it's nice that players who didn't pre-order Helldivers 2 will get a chance to receive these sets again without buying Helldivers 2's Xbox port, there are still a lot of other cosmetics in the game that aren't obtainable through standard means and should be brought back in a similar way later on.
Many Helldivers 2 Cosmetics Can No Longer Be Unlocked by Newcomers
In the year and a half since Helldivers 2's release, Arrowhead Game Studios has given away a multitude of free cosmetics to players in commemoration of special events, but most of them can not be obtained by newcomers to the game. The Eye of Freedom cape and the B-22 Model Citizen armor set, for instance, were added to the game in February 2025 to celebrate Helldivers 2's first anniversary, but are no longer unlockable. The Fallen Hero's Vengeance cape, meanwhile, was only distributed on April 3, 2024, to all existing players back then in honor of those who fell in battle during the Liberation of Malevelon Creek Major Order event.
Like the above-mentioned example, the Pillars of Freedom and Emblem of Freedom capes were given away to all active players on specific dates, but they are no longer obtainable in the game. The Protector of Heart cape, on the other hand, was only issued to players who played Helldivers 2 during a certain period.
Perhaps the largest set of unobtainable items in Helldivers 2 is the one that was added during the Helldivers 2 x Killzone 2 event in December 2024. The crossover, which was the first-ever collaboration event that Arrowhead Game Studios had ever hosted in the game, featured several new weapons, capes, armor sets, and player cards that were inspired by Guerrilla Games' classic first-person shooter. Some of these items could be purchased in Helldivers 2's Superstore using in-game currency, while others were distributed for free to all existing players at the time.
These Killzone 2 items can no longer be unlocked in Helldivers 2, but Arrowhead plans to add them back in a future update.
Limited-Time Cosmetics Can Sometimes Make Sense, But Arrowhead Should Give Gamers a Second Chance to Obtain Them
Helldivers 2 is probably one of the few live service games out there that doesn't heavily rely on FOMO. Because of this, it can be disappointing when Arrowhead Game Studios adds new content to Helldivers 2 that is time-limited or is only obtainable by a certain subset of players. While it may make sense to keep some cosmetics exclusive so that they aren't devalued over time, it would be nice if Arrowhead gave players another chance — no matter how limited — to unlock most of the rare cosmetics in Helldivers 2, especially with brand-new recruits arriving soon.
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
