By Sony PlayStation has done a 180-degree U-turn on its announcement on Friday requiring “Helldivers 2” players on Steam to sign in with a PlayStation Network account.
Sony launched the game with the requirement in place, but its unexpected early success led to severe technical issues, which caused the requirement to be temporarily removed just after launch.
In the months after, plenty of consumers purchased the title without being aware of such a requirement (it was listed minimally on the page) and so when Sony said the requirement would be returning later this month, the news was met with both surprise and a huge backlash.
Some had issues with having another login and/or sharing information with Sony, a bigger concern was that PSN is unavailable across large chunks of the world and so players in those countries would’ve been effectively locked out from playing the title.
In the span of less than 48 hours, the game was ‘review bombed’ in protest by understandably angry and frustrated consumers – the title being hit with over 100,000 negative reviews on Steam as people complained about the change and warned others about purchasing.
That was combined with a massive backlash on social media and on message boards like Reddit. Meanwhile Steam itself pulled the title from over 150 countries due to them not having access to the PlayStation Network, and was said to be offering some refunds.
Now, in a new tweet posted by the official PlayStation account on X, the company has acknowledged the error and say they’ve scrapped the plans to require a PSN account for the Steam version of the game:
“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 learning what is best for PC players and your feedback has been invaluable. Thanks again for your continued support of Helldivers 2 and we’ll keep you updated on future plans.”
Johan Pilestedt, CEO of the game’s developer Arrowhead, commented on the change:
“Firstly, I am impressed by the willpower of the Helldivers 2 community and your ability to collaborate. Secondly I want to thank our partners and friends at PlayStation for quickly and effectively making the decision to leave PSN linking optional.
We together want to set a new standard for what a live game is, and how developers and community can support each other to create the best game experiences.”
In the wake of the reversal, Steam reviews have started turning more positive – shifting from 95-98% negative over the weekend to 52% negative as of today.
In those markets where “Helldivers 2” was pulled, it remains unavailable on the Steam store but it’s expected access will be restored to those areas in the near future.
Sucker Punch Studios has also announced that the upcoming PC version of “Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut,” launching on the platform on May 16th, will NOT require a PSN account to use any element of it be it the singleplayer campaign, Legends online multiplayer mode or PlayStation overlay.
Source: VGC
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