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Helldivers 2 has now turned from the most beloved multiplayer experience of this year to one facing an ongoing controversy after a mandatory PlayStation Network (PSN) account linking requirement was announced.
As announced on Friday, players playing on the Steam version of Helldivers 2 will be required to sign in with their PSN account starting from May 30th, 2024.
The same announcement also noted that players will be required to have linked their Steam and PSN accounts by June 4th, 2024, while new players have to do so starting on May 6th, 2024.
This led to many PC players, especially those in countries where PSN is not available, being frustrated and angered as they now face the problem of not being able to access the game they had legally purchased.
In 2 days, Helldivers 2 has received over 200,000 negative reviews on Steam as players band together to protest against the sudden PSN login requirement.
As of writing, Helldivers 2 is facing a massive ongoing review bomb that has now led the “Recent Reviews” on Steam to be Overwhelmingly Negative, and “All Reviews” to be at Mixed.
At launch, PSN and Steam account linking was optional as it was removed due to technical issues as briefly mentioned in the announcement.
As such, many countries where PSN service is not available could still purchase the game at launch.
However, as the backlash continues, Helldivers 2 has now been delisted on 177 countries and territories, according to SteamDB.
Furthermore, players are also reporting that Steam is currently allowing refunds for the game via manual request, regardless of playtime.
Typically on Steam, players have only 2 hours of playtime for refunds to be eligible.
Is this the moment to tweet “What? You guys don’t have phones?” 😵💫
On serious note: We are talking solutions with PlayStation, especially for non-PSN countries. Your voice has been heard, and I am doing everything I can to speak for the community – but I don’t have the final…
— Pilestedt (@Pilestedt) May 5, 2024
As the controversy heated up, Arrowhead Game Studios CEO Johan Pilestedt took on Twitter/X and noted that the company is currently in talks with SIE about the matter, especially for countries with no official PSN support.
Pilestedt, however, also noted that he does not have the final say on the matter and that he is doing everything he can to speak for the community.
