With the notable exception of many Indie titles, the gaming industry is primarily populated by 3D experiences, and has been so since the 90s. Running 3D graphics at acceptable enough framerates to warrant gameplay was initially a major challenge that studios had to work hard to overcome, utilizing pre-rendered techniques or special shader work or other tech wizardry just so you could have a foggy Silent Hill experience. But since surmounting that, it’s been more of an arms race about who can create the most breathtaking hyperrealistic game–often without care for optimization. This is not cheap, to say the least, and the software used in the big-leagues to make these graphics, like Autodesk Maya or Nuke, come with a hefty price tag. This can gatekeep burgeoning artists and developers from realizing their games to the fullest potential–or at least it would be like that if Blender 3D didn’t exist, which is completely free and open source. They don’t make a dime off of license deals, and graciously ask for the support of the communities that use their software. This is all to say that the developers behind none-other than the hit multiplayer horde-shooter Helldivers 2 have announced that they are becoming Gold tier sponsors of Blender, as confirmed in a post on X today:

Welcome @ArrowheadGS as a Corporate Gold sponsor of the Blender Foundation’s Development Fund! https://t.co/qxl0yLN76g #b3d #DevFund pic.twitter.com/N4F5O1bnSZ

— Blender 🔶 (@Blender) February 3, 2026

Blender has several tiers of corporate sponsorship levels, ascending six levels all the way to Patron tier, though the Gold tier Arrowhead Game Studios has subscribed to is listed as costing $30,000 annually. The developers mention on their website that their art department utilizes Blender 3D frequently, though aside from that there’s not a ton of documentation about their relationship with the software. This donated money, as Blender asserts, all goes directly to the team that works on it, and allows them to keep innovating and iterating upon the software for the good of all those who work on it. And Indeed, the company champions the idea that Blender 3D is explicitly copyleft, which is quite logically the complete opposite of the restrictions copyright law often imposes. As with Linux OS, for example, copyleft as enforced by GNU General public license means that you must allow users to use, distribute, and pick apart the software to their heart’s content. Which gives a pretty large clue as to why a now renowned developer that certainly didn’t use to be has decided to patronize Blender. Without the accessibility of software, Arrowhead’s development staff likely wouldn’t be in the jobs that they’re in. And to give some perspective, Arrowhead has committed to donating more to the company than tech giant Google, who are featured on the Development Fund’s front page in silver, a tier below the game developer.