Helldivers 2 Devs Address Why The Co-Op Shooter Needs Such Aggressive Anti-Cheat Tech
Helldivers 2 developers Arrowhead have released an official statement about the game’s usage of anti-cheat software, clarifying why the co-op game needs it and what the anti-cheat actually does. The specific anti-cheat used, namely GameGuard, is kernel-level or rootkit anti-cheat software, prompting the community to raise concerns about the program’s privacy and security.
In a post on Steam, technical director Peter Lindgren claimed that GameGuard will not remain on the users PC when Helldivers 2 is uninstalled nor will it collect any personally identifiable information. A Q&A following the statement added that GameGuard does not interfere with game performance or create special security concerns.
As for why the game needs anti-cheat, Lindgren claim that Arrowhead has seen negative outcomes towards play from cheating in prior projects. For example, some cheats in Helldivers 1, which “effectively” did not have anti-cheat, affected non-cheaters as well as cheaters by effectively completing the entire game’s progression system in one go. Additionally, Helldivers 2 has the galactic war, a metagame for all players that each individual match contributes to. A widespread cheat could negatively impact player experience across the userbase.