PlayStation Says Helldivers 2 on PC Will No Longer Require a PSN Account - News

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Following backlash from players, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced the PC version of Helldivers 2 will no longer require linking to a PlayStation Network account for new or current players.

"Helldivers fans -- we’ve heard your feedback on the Helldivers 2 account linking update," reads a tweet from the official PlayStation Twitter account. "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."

Sony last week announced PC players of Helldivers 2 will be required to link to a PlayStation Network (PSN) account in the coming days and weeks. However, there was

backlash from PC players with around 200,000 negative reviews on Steam in the last few days. One of the issues with the PSN requirement is there are a number of countries that have had Helldivers 2 available to purchase on Steam that do not have PSN available.

Valve has also been issuing refunds to players with hundreds of hours of hours players, despite the fact refunds on Steam generally require someone to have played less than two hours of a game. 

Helldivers 2 released for the PlayStation 5 and PC on February 8.

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

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26 Comments

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Leynos (on 06 May 2024)

Not praising Sony for something they should have done from Day 1.

• +5

KLAMarine (on 06 May 2024)

Good to see them reverse course. People, you have the power!

• +2

G2ThaUNiT KLAMarine (on 06 May 2024)

Yeah, contrary to popular belief, you don't HAVE to go along with what corporations tell you to lol. Consumers have their rights.

• +6

KLAMarine G2ThaUNiT (on 06 May 2024)

They have their wallets, most important of all.

• +2

Azzanation (on 07 May 2024)

That was embarrassing. Sony really needs to read the player base more when it comes to Online/ MP games. If the game was not ready don't release it. You cannot pull the rug under people's feet months later. The PC crowd doesn't take that nonsense lightly.

• +1

JuliusHackebeil (on 06 May 2024)

A success for democracy? Who knows

• +1

darthv72 (on 06 May 2024)

Wonder if they will still move forward with the PSN account requirement for Ghost of Tsushima? At the very least, have steam flag it and only sell to specific countries PSN is available to... so they dont end up with another shit show of selling the game beyond the scope of PSN support.

• 0

G2ThaUNiT darthv72 (on 06 May 2024)

Just the multiplayer mode will require a PSN account. Single player you can just play regardless.

• +1

The Fury (on 06 May 2024)

What an odd few days. A few days of terrible press.

• 0

Hardstuck-Platinum (on 06 May 2024)

I was hoping they would just pull the game off of Steam to show that forming a mob and harassing developers is not something that will be tolerated. Unfortunately they just caved in and gave them what they wanted. I wonder what this means going forward for PS on Steam, it will have implications for sure

• -21

Radek Hardstuck-Platinum (on 06 May 2024)

You have to realize PSN account can't be made in over 100 countries while Steam account is pretty much available in every country.

• +12

Hardstuck-Platinum Radek (on 06 May 2024)

Yeah I see where people are coming from but that is Sony's fault, not Arrowheads. It doesn't justify Review bombing their game and harassing the team

• -9

Radek Hardstuck-Platinum (on 06 May 2024)

Of course, but you wanted Sony to pull off the game and punish everyone (million of people) for what harrassers are doing

• +9

Hardstuck-Platinum Radek (on 06 May 2024)

In principle, you should only back down if you've done something wrong. Like Xbox one bricking itself just because it didn't log in every 24 hours. A PSN account sync is not a wrongdoing so backing down is not right. That means that pulling the game off steam was the only option.

If Sony had pulled the game off steam and said it was their decision to do so, all the hatred towards arrowhead would have then been diverted to Sony, but Sony could deal with it

Helldivers 2 has been so successful that it doesn't even need PC to thrive. It was an opportunity to show people that they are strong and don't need PC for Helldivers, but no they just caved and I've lost respect for them. It's like Steam users are more important than Arrowhead being abused, or PS5 players

• -12

Radek Hardstuck-Platinum (on 06 May 2024)

More than half of all HD2 players are on Steam. That would be a horrible decission even money wise.

• +9

Hardstuck-Platinum Radek (on 06 May 2024)

The game would only be 10x more successful rather than the 20x it currently is with steam. Doesn't sound like a terrible situation to be in to me

• -12

G2ThaUNiT Hardstuck-Platinum (on 06 May 2024)

Dude…….just stop.

• +14

TheTitaniumNub Hardstuck-Platinum (on 06 May 2024)

Dude, ARROWHEAD THEMSELVES TOLD PEOPLE TO LEAVE NEGATIVE REVIEWS

https://www.videogamer.com/news/helldivers-2-devs-tell-the-community-to-review-bomb-the-game/

• +13

LudicrousSpeed Hardstuck-Platinum (on 06 May 2024)

And how do you think pulling their game from Steam, where it has sold the most, would affect Arrowhead?

• +6

Koragg Hardstuck-Platinum (on 06 May 2024)

If a significant number of people who bought a product are unhappy with it, they absolutely have the right to voice their frustrations. Refunds and negative reviews of games are perfectly justified as they are the most effective ways for people to get their opinions heard.

• +16

Imaginedvl Hardstuck-Platinum (on 06 May 2024)

And why would you "hope" for that? And the review bombings is one thing (and stupid), but Sony forcing the Play Station network link is simply a PR move. Nothing else and players had no other option to push back on this than the reviews as they still want to play it at the end.

The link does literally NOTHING. At least if it would synchronize your progress with the Play Station version; it would be a pretty good reason to do it but it does not even do that.

• +4

mutantsushi Hardstuck-Platinum (on 06 May 2024)

I understand the rationale of PSN accounts is (in part) anti-cheating and abuse control, which are reasonable and desirable things. Being unavailable in all countries is then regrettable (albeit there are work-arounds which Sony itself can´t really advocate), but I wonder if the best solution couldn´t be just enabling a PSN-only pairing mode which excludes non-PSN linked accounts, while allowing an ¨open¨ pairing mode which allows any game install, PSN account or not. Since allowing the latter doesn´t impact the former (who would comprise the entire audience if latter were barred), seems like best resolution of the situation.

• 0

Imaginedvl mutantsushi (on 06 May 2024)

I don't think it is, there are already options for that, and it does not require Play Station Network at all. And as far as cheat detector, Play Station Network does not have any capability like that. Only thing is control of the account if needed, that's all, so it is basically useless.
Also, it would be naive not to think that this is to bring people into the ecosystem (even if it is on toe); so they can communicate with them (marketing etc) after that, it is very likely the only reason, no matter what Sony's is saying.

This is the same thing, when Apple pretends that not allowing games to be streamed on their device is to "protect" the consumer. We all know what it is for... Money.... Sony wanting (wanted...) to have people signing ton Play Station Network is for... Money.... The more people they can reach in the future.

• +5

Hardstuck-Platinum Imaginedvl (on 06 May 2024)

Sony invested heavily into Arrowhead and helped them become what they are. Helldivers 2 only exists because of Sony so for you to say Sony has no right to stamp their authority on it only shows that you are entitled. Not that you care about justice

• -5

Hardstuck-Platinum mutantsushi (on 06 May 2024)

Your right, that would be the best solution to the problem. Sony should have considered this from the start and foreseen this would be an issue, given how extremely entitled people can be. They could have had a rewards system in place, but you can only claim the rewards if you link a PSN account. What are your thoughts about what benefits the PSN paired mode only people should have vs the non-paired?

• -4

mutantsushi Hardstuck-Platinum (on 07 May 2024)

IMHO, the main benefit would be any anti-cheating or abuse effect via PSN. Obviously PSN itself isn´t a cheating detection mechanism, but it´s a management platform for that, in that playing PSN-verified means excluding anybody who has been banned from other PSN games for cheating or bad behavior. Also PSN seems reasonable requirement for crossplay and pairing with Playstation gamers.

If Sony just wants to do this for its own other reasons (which I wasn´t denying, as fun as it is to reduce others postion to strawman), I expect they can just require PSN for new sales where it is available. I don´t think worrying about forcing PSN onto people who already bought the game without it is worth worrying about, honestly. De facto, they would end up playing vs. a smaller player base (only non-PSN verified) which in and of itself would be a negative, but one that I think people can accept logically.

• -1