After negative reviews from the public and the temporary suspension of sales in many countries, Sony has decided to come to its senses!
Yesterday afternoon, Sony went all out to make PlayStation Network accounts mandatory, but as a result, Helldivers 2 was made unavailable on Steam in 177 countries and territories. Japan was the exception, according to SteamDB, where a localized version of Arrowhead’s live service game was planned. Helldivers 2 has received over 215,000 negative reviews, dropping the game’s status to the Mixed category in terms of overall reviews on Valve’s platform.
Helldivers 2 is no longer purchasable in 177 countries where PSN is not available (but some are still available like Baltics).
This game has now received 215,000 negative reviews. pic.twitter.com/jJrb9QFafR
— SteamDB (@SteamDB) May 5, 2024
Johan Pilestedt, CEO of Arrowhead, wrote that they are in talks with Sony about a solution, mainly because of the countries without PSN, and although they have heard the voice of the community, Sony has the final say. And that’s why it looked like the company was not going to budge on the demand (PlayStation Network accounts will be mandatory for new customers from May 6th, and by the end of the month everyone will have to link their PSN account to Steam), but in the end the demand that had been hinted at for months was withdrawn by Sony.
Is this the moment to tweet "What? You guys don't have phones?" 😵💫
On serious note: We are talking solutions with PlayStation, especially for non-PSN countries. Your voice has been heard, and I am doing everything I can to speak for the community – but I don't have the final…
— Pilestedt (@Pilestedt) May 5, 2024
Pilestedt wrote that he had a role to play in the case, so he could be blamed for it, because it was his decision not to require the two accounts to be linked at launch so that everyone could play Helldivers 2, but he didn’t properly inform players about the PSN accounts and didn’t emphasize it enough. But Sony eventually relented and tweeted this: “Helldivers fans – we’ve heard your feedback on the Helldivers 2 account linking update. The May 6th update that would have required Steam and PlayStation Network account linking for new players, and for current players starting May 30th, will not be moving forward. We’re still learning what works best for PC players, and your feedback has been invaluable. Thank you again for your continued support of Helldivers 2 and we’ll keep you updated on future plans.”
I do have a part to play. I am not blameless in all of this – it was my decision to disable account linking at launch so that players could play the game. I did not ensure players were aware of the requirement and we didn't talk about it enough.
We knew for about 6 months before…
— Pilestedt (@Pilestedt) May 5, 2024
Helldivers fans — we’ve heard your feedback on the Helldivers 2 account linking update. The May 6 update, which would have required Steam and PlayStation Network account linking for new players and for current players beginning May 30, will not be moving forward.
We’re still…
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) May 6, 2024
The public won. By a landslide. So the game is once again available for sale worldwide on Steam.
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