PC Gamers Were Recently Angry At Sony Over 'Helldivers 2' Account Linking. Here's Why
Imagine buying something but it gets taken away from you unwillingly.
By Syazwan Bahri — 07 May 2024, 05:58 PM
Recently, the gaming community was in an uproar after Sony's unexpected announcement
Sony recently made headlines by announcing that Helldivers 2, a highly acclaimed multiplayer game, would mandate Steam players to link their accounts to a PlayStation Network (PSN) account.
For those not in the loop, you might be asking: "What's so hard about linking a free PSN account?"
Here's why the announcement struck a nerve of gamers from across the globe:
About 177 countries around the world do not have access to PSN. Therefore, with the account linking made mandatory, there is no way for PC players to create a PSN account to play Helldivers 2.
"Well, why not just make a fake account in countries with PSN available?"
There's another issue: With Sony's announcement, Steam made the decision to pull Helldivers 2 from their storefront, meaning the game is not even purchasable for gamers in 177 countries. For those who had already bought the game, Steam gave them a refund.
Helldivers 2 is no longer purchasable in 177 countries where PSN is not available (but some are still available like Baltics).
— SteamDB (@SteamDB) May 5, 2024
This game has now received 215,000 negative reviews. pic.twitter.com/jJrb9QFafR
The fact that the game's community manager added fuel to the fire did not help the situation either. Helldivers 2 community manager Spitz faced criticism for dismissing a player's concerns over the account linking issue, suggesting they simply leave a bad review and move on.
While Spitz has since softened his stance, he maintains that his suggestion was serious. He asserts that changing reviews to negative on Steam can be an effective way for players to convey their dissatisfaction and send a message to Sony regarding their concerns.
"I want people to make their displeasure known in a place where it might actually make a difference. Steam reviews and refund requests will do that, angry posting in the Discord won't. I'm not happy about this decision either," said Spitz in the community Discord channel.
Following the significant backlash from players, including review bombing on Steam, Sony has backtracked on this decision
On Monday, 6 May, the company announced that PC players will no longer be required to link their accounts to PSN.
Now that the decision has been reversed, Arrowhead Game Studio chief executive officer, Johan Pilestedt, expressed gratitude towards fans and thanked PlayStation for promptly addressing the issue.
The game has been reinstated in the countries where it was previously removed, and it appears that players are revising their negative reviews. Helldivers 2 now holds a "mixed" rating on Steam, with the number of positive reviews gradually increasing.
Pilestedt even lightened the mood by poking fun at the situation, sharing a graphic from a community member that transformed the game's negative review graph on Steam into a design for the capes worn by players in-game.
