Arrowhead’s Live Service game is no longer available for purchase on Valve’s digital platform in all countries, and Steam has offered refunds to affected players.
This is all due to the recently introduced PlayStation Network account requirement. At launch, Helldivers 2 did not require a PSN account, but as of May 6, it will be mandatory for new customers, and a little later for others. We wrote about this recently, as well as the number of negative reviews on Steam. There are already over 55,000 negative reviews about the mandatory PSN account.
What does this have to do with the suspension? The answer is simple: while it only takes a few moments to sign up for PlayStation Network, not everyone can do it. So even if they bought the game on Steam, they won’t be able to do so in the short term. Some affected countries: Afghanistan, Albania, Netherlands Antilles, Azerbaijan, Congo, Cuba, Curacao, Egypt, Gambia, Jamaica, Morocco, Monaco, Philippines, Pakistan, Suriname.
Spitz, the community manager for Arrowhead, wrote this after realizing how stupid he was when he first said people shouldn’t make a fuss about the mandatory PlayStation Network account: “Yes, I was completely unaware of how many countries don’t have the ability to create a PSN account when I made that statement. I deeply regret implying that it was so easy for everyone to just sign up and not have to worry about it. We have absolutely no intention of forcing people to break Sony’s ToS or simply not play the game if they’re in a restricted region. There has to be a better solution.”
New updates from Spitz (Community Manager) pic.twitter.com/InTZnUUc0s
— Helldivers 2 Media (@Helldiversmedia) May 4, 2024
Refunds on Steam work!!
Here is good guy Steam accepting simple, straightforward logic.#Helldivers2 pic.twitter.com/IajnG0udjO
— Helldivers 2 Media (@Helldiversmedia) May 4, 2024
Valve has even offered refunds to players who have played Helldivers 2 for more than two hours, and that leaves Sony with a tough choice: if it continues to push for a PSN account, players will quickly tarnish the game’s already excellent reputation, but if not, it may not be too late and everything could return to business as usual.
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