After a new trailer hinted at the appearance of the ODST, Helldivers 2 appears to be headed for an unusual Halo crossover.
For August 26, Arrowhead’s wildly popular third-person shooter for PC and PlayStation 5 will be released for Xbox Series X and S, becoming the first game published by Sony on Microsoft’s platform. The game’s famous soundtrack plays as the clip, which can be seen below, closes with what appears to be the entrance of an ODST on a battlefield soaked in rain. Everything is so ODST!
In 2009, Halo 3: ODST, developed by Bungie, was released exclusively on the Xbox 360. During and after Halo 2’s events, you take on the role of an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, or ODST. Therefore, this is not an opportunity to play as a Master Chief who is overpowered in Helldivers 2, but rather a fairly strong regular soldier.
Whether this ODST crossover will be available with other Halo products, like its renowned assault rifle and possibly even the Warthog, is the next logical question. It will be fascinating to see how far it goes, as Helldivers 2 seems especially well-suited for a Halo crossover of this sort.
Last month, Arrowhead revealed the Xbox release date for Helldivers 2, which coincidentally coincides with Microsoft’s PlayStation 5 release of Gears of War: Reloaded. Mikael Eriksson, the game director for Helldivers 2, discussed the significance of this launch for the studio in a post on Xbox Wire.
“We are thrilled to add more Helldivers to our game, as we know players have been requesting this for a while,” he stated. “The more participants we have, the more stories we can tell, and we have so much more planned for the upcoming months and years! The battle for Super Earth is just getting started.
Players on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox will be able to play together since crossplay is guaranteed across all platforms.
In February 2024, Helldivers 2 was released on PC and PS5, and it was a rare live service success for Sony. With an astounding 12 million copies sold in just 12 weeks, it is the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game ever. The Xbox version will undoubtedly increase the player base even more, even though Steam’s player numbers, which Valve makes public, are still strong a year and a half after the game’s historic debut.
Halo’s appearance in Helldivers 2 and Fortnite occurs at the same time, during a bug-filled season that some Arrowhead developers have described as essentially a Helldivers-themed Fortnite. On the game’s Discord, community manager Katherine Baskin said, “Hmmm… it’s giving ‘we have Helldivers at home,'” before saying, “I’m not worried.”
Microsoft has given additional hints about Halo’s October release.
