If history has taught us anything, it’s that when faced with tyranny, lovers of both Liberty and Democracy will fight in their defence to the last round of ammunition, the final drop of blood. In a bombshell development, it looks like developer Arrowhead may have a revolution on its hands, as outraged Helldivers 2 players who defended the developer just days ago rise up. They demand justice (and official canonisation into in-game lore) for the undemocratically dismissed community manager, now dubbed “General” Spitz.
As is the fashion these days, a Change.org petition has sprung up overnight (thanks, RPS), which, at the time of this writing, approaches 4,500 signatures. It aims to force Arrowhead to reconsider the dismissal of a community manager known as Spitz, who has been a fixture within the community since launch. During the darkest hours of the forced PC/PSN account linking debacle earlier this week, Spitz, perhaps feeling the call of destiny, directed the community on Discord (captured on Twitter) to: “[Make] their displeasure known through reviews, refunds, etc. [It] gives us more pull in the discussions with Sony. They don’t read our Discord.”
Once the dust settled the next day (yesterday), Spitz told the community that this act had “Almost. Not quite” gotten them fired. Not much later, one final transmission was confirmed, as Spitz revealed they had been let go, stoically stating: “Every war comes with casualties.”
According to the petition: “On 05/07/2024, at or about 11:45 PST, the Helldivers discord discovered that Community Manager Spitz had been relieved of his position, and all traces of his previously held post deleted or otherwise removed from the discord.” This incident appears to have been the inciting spark to revolution, as not only do Helldivers want Spitz reinstated immediately, but they’ve also demanded that he be immortalised in-game for his self-sacrifice:
“We additionally request the official canonisation of GENERAL Spitz in Helldivers lore. FOR FREEDOM. FOR DEMOCRACY. FOR THE GOOD OF THE GAME AND ITS DEDICATED COMMUNITY ALIKE.”
It remains to be seen where this all goes, but with Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt himself praising the “willpower” of players in the Sony showdown, there does appear to be a little hypocrisy at play. “General” Spitz left us with some words to meditate on in the meantime: “I knew I was taking a risk with what I said about refunding and changing reviews; I stand by it. It was my job to represent the community; that’s what I did.”