Helldivers 2 PSN enforcement — Previously we have just written an article on Sony enforcing Steam users to link their in-game profile to PlayStation Network (PSN) which in return received quite a handful of backlash from its community; including the developers. Johan Pilstedt, the CEO of Arrowhead Game Studios, one who is in charge of Helldivers 2 development, has also expressed his concern about Sony’s direction.
Fast forward earlier on the 6th of May, Sony, through PlayStation’s official Twitter account has decided to backpedal from its very questionable decision.
The official account mentioned that 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”. Looking at comments, the tweet has also been greeted very positively by the majority of players
Unfortunately, there have yet to be any updates regarding the Helldivers 2 region removal that affects a total of 177 countries due to earlier PSN controversy.
What happened before?
For those who have not heard about the controversy, Sony previously decided to enforce a decision that makes players; new and old, link their in-game profile to the PSN account regardless of whether the players own a PlayStation console or not and threaten them to lose access to the game. Sony argued that this decision is mandatory in “protecting our players and upholding the value of safety and security provided on PlayStation and PlayStation Studios games”.
In turn, the community decided to answer the news with a mass review bomb quickly changing the previous “Overwhelmingly Positive” to “Overwhelmingly Negative” in a matter of days. Some players have also attempted to refund their game past Steam’s refund policy and some of them have also been granted.
Fortunately, after the apology tweet from Sony, the reviews are starting to slowly creep back to normal; totalling around 70,000 positive reviews as of writing.
Bottom line
Sony has finally backpedalled from its Helldivers 2 controversy direction that forced all users to link their in-game profile to Sony’s PlayStation Network (PSN). The Arrowhead Studios Helldivers 2 CEO Johan Pilstedt previously also mentioned that he has warned and is aware of the potential outcome and as those concerns became real, it may be one major reason why Sony finally listened to the developer.
So far, the change is being greeted positively by the player base and the Steam page review has also started to fix itself. However, players are also still cautious as there has yet to be any update regarding 177 countries that lose access to purchase the game.
