Helldivers 2 is, unfortunately, still being delisted in more than 170 countries on Steam, despite Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) no longer moving forward with the PlayStation Network (PSN) sign-in requirement.
One week ago, SIE attempted to force Helldivers 2 players on PC to link their Steam account to a PSN account months after launch. This led to a backlash as players were concerned that they may lose access to the games they purchased since many countries do not have official PSN support.
Amidst the backlash and mass review-bombing, the game was ultimately delisted in over 170 countries that have no PSN support, with Steam issuing refunds to users from the purchase-restricted regions regardless of playtime.
The PSN login mandate was eventually scrapped, but a week later, the delisting has not been reversed according to Steam database SteamDB. In fact, unfortunately, 3 more countries were added to the list, namely Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia.
Helldivers 2 is now banned for purchase in Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia as of 7 minutes ago. Still trying to say this is Steams fault?
Worst publisher in the industry.https://t.co/MAqRjb5wd7 pic.twitter.com/2COJ6cnWGW
— Pirate Software (@PirateSoftware) May 10, 2024
As the delisting was happening, there were debates on whether it was Steam or SIE that had decided to pull the game from affected regions.
In a recent development, it turns out that the decision was made by SIE. A player shared a response they got from a Steam representative in a customer support message.
The response specifically noted that Helldivers 2 “is not available in Steam right now for specific regions as decided by the publisher”.
“This information is all we have right now, and we can’t tell when the game might be made available in those countries. You may consider getting in touch with the game’s publisher to ask more details about it or share your feedback to them.”
As for why 3 additional countries have been added to the restriction, Arrowhead CEO and Helldivers 2 creative director Johan Pilestedt, explained on Discord that it was an “administrative error” and it was put in place to align with the delisting happening for the upcoming Ghost of Tsushima: DIRECTOR’S CUT.
Pilestedt further added that “the conversation on region restrictions is still ongoing and is independent of this. I have no further information. We (Arrowhead) still want the game to be available everywhere.”