Helldivers 2 is a successful videogame by pretty much every measure, but what makes it so? Given the risk-laden rush towards lucrative live service games—and the seeming huge amounts of luck required for them to catch on—it’s likely a question many in the industry are asking. Speaking at the Nordic Game conference earlier this week, Arrowhead Games CEO Johan Pilestedt offered up his own thoughts on why Helldivers was a smash hit.

He’s quick to shoot down the oft-repeated theory that it’s the co-op shooter’s $40 price point that made all the difference. As he rightfully notes, there are many games that sell for $40, and not many have the same success that Helldivers 2 has had. There are a whole lot of other factors people point to, such as the release window, the balanc…

Alas, The Game Awards has come to an end—and while there’ve been plenty of exciting trailers and glitzy celeb appearances, it’s easy to get numb to the star factor. One returning guest, however, was far more welcome than any Hollywood name-drop: the man, the myth, the legend: Flute Guy. 

Arriving to the stage as part of The Game Awards orchestra, prolific musician and composer Pedro Eustache joined his contemporaries to play through the themes of this year’s winners. He took to the stage with his usual aplomb, advancing through several tiers of wind instrument before reaching his final form. Here’s a montage courtesy of Ratatoskr on YouTube, aptly titled “Flute Guy Goes Hard Again”—as well as some boots-on-the-ground footage by GameSpot’s managing editor Tamoor Hu…

After years of taking a hands-off approach to the pro CS:GO scene, Valve has very suddenly announced major changes to the rules governing tournament organizers that it says will help ensure that ability, and not money, determine which teams rise to the top of competitive events.

“Counter-Strike is at its best when teams compete on a level playing field and when ability is the only limit to their success,” Valve wrote. “Over the past few years, we’ve seen professional Counter-Strike drift away from that ideal. The ecosystem has become gradually less open, with access to the highest levels of competition increasingly gated by business relationships.”

A good example of this is the ESL Pro League’s “Louvre Agreement,” which enables “a select group of elite teams to partici…