Sony accidentally leaked an unannounced Helldivers 2 stratagem by getting its rocket launchers confused

(Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)

Another day, another unsanctioned early look at an unreleased Helldivers 2 stratagem. However, while there's a not-unrealistic chance that some earlier Helldivers 2 leaks came from inside the Arrowhead house, this first glimpse of an unannounced rocket launcher came from, well, inside the bigger house that's publishing the game. Sony did it, is what I'm saying, and seemingly without meaning to.

Sony delivered the apparent leak in an official marketing email, as spotted earlier this week by keen-eyed Helldivers on Reddit. A section of the email describes the recent in-game campaign that saw Helldivers choosing to liberate the planet Penta and unlock the shiny new RL-77 Airburst Rocket Launcher. The accompanying image shows a Helldiver toting a rocket launcher, but there's a slight issue: That's a rocket launcher alright, but it's not the RL-77.

Sony just leaked a new stratagem! from r/Helldivers

In fact, as far as any Helldiver's aware, it's not a rocket launcher that even exists. None of our current rocket launchers are rectangles, but this thing's a quad-barreled situation that looks a lot like the M202 FLASH, an incendiary rocket launcher that you might remember in Arnold's hands in Commando.

Coincidentally, Commando is the apparent namesake for the similarly quad-barreled MLS-4X Commando, a rocket launcher stratagem from the first Helldivers. Curious! While the MLS-4X didn't have the incendiary rounds of its real-world inspiration, I'm hoping a theoretical successor in Helldivers 2 will. A long-range incendiary launcher would be a fun niche to fill in the stratagem toolkit.

Did Sony simply get its .png files mixed up, or has Arrowhead reached the point of enlisting its publisher's PR wing in its psychological warfare of sneak stratagem previews? Hard to say. But considering mechs made the jump from Helldivers to Helldivers 2, there's a precedent in play for Helldivers hoping for their own Commando moment. If the Illuminate enemy faction eventually decides to make its own reappearance, the extra firepower wouldn't hurt.

Lincoln has been writing about games for 12 years—unless you include the essays about procedural storytelling in Dwarf Fortress he convinced his college professors to accept. Leveraging the brainworms from a youth spent in World of Warcraft to write for sites like Waypoint, Polygon, and Fanbyte, Lincoln spent three years freelancing for PC Gamer before joining on as a full-time News Writer in 2024, bringing an expertise in Caves of Qud bird diplomacy, getting sons killed in Crusader Kings, and hitting dinosaurs with hammers in Monster Hunter.