Helldivers 2 requires PSN account linking and creates a lot of backlash

[Moonzy]

Well, it's over

[PhantomJaguarr]

Saw that tweet shared on a YouTube video first a minute after it was posted and I thought "it's fake" instantly. Then I checked the source. 

[nvhgamer]

Let's see if they follow through, keep it like this on the long term and with other games, etc.

[Stahlmann]

I didn't expect Sony to fold. Hopefully most of the people who reviewed the game negatively because of this will remember to update their review. I also hope that "we'll keep you updated on future plans" doesn't mean "we'll try again in 6 months".

[Kisai]

5 hours ago, Stahlmann said:

I didn't expect Sony to fold. Hopefully most of the people who reviewed the game negatively because of this will remember to update their review. I also hope that "we'll keep you updated on future plans" doesn't mean "we'll try again in 6 months".

Well fundamentally they went about this in the most stupid and lazy way. SSO's always result in privacy problems. Steam has a "Sign in with Steam", PSN has a "Sign in with PSN", just let people link the accounts in either direction and give them licenses for both if they own it on one. Problem solved. If people don't have a playstation they use the PSN with, or don't want a PSN account then they don't need to link one.

 

Cross play has never been an issue in other games. You enable crossplay by simply having the game keep track of multiple friends lists and asking players to link their accounts so their friends can find them under either. That's all. If they don't want to, then they will never know when their friends on the other service are playing. 

 

Honestly, if this was going to be an anti-cheat/abuse prevention feature, they should have been forthcoming about it, but clearly it was just Sony not willing to read the room.

[CarlBar]

6 hours ago, Stahlmann said:

I didn't expect Sony to fold. Hopefully most of the people who reviewed the game negatively because of this will remember to update their review. I also hope that "we'll keep you updated on future plans" doesn't mean "we'll try again in 6 months".

 

Helldivers 2 was, (may still be if people haven't changed their reviews yet), the game with the 4th most negetive reviews on steam ever. Only counter Strike 2, PUBG, and DOTA had more total, and they've been out way longer, have way more total reviews, and are free to play. It was heading towards the biggest negetive PR event in gaming history at freight train speeds.

[saintlouisbagels]

The Helldivers 2 community has been so amazing.

Obviously everyone had no issues with following the "Major Order" of review-bombing the game and asking for refunds.

 

We've been trained to exceed all expectations for the last 3 months!

 

16 hours ago, FlyingPotato_is_taken said:

It goes on. For the third day in a row, the number of negative reviews continues to rise.

I was a bit surprised by this, as I would have expected an initial spike of 1-2 days, followed by an exponential decline.

Nah dog, HD2 players know how to work towards a single goal.

[CarlBar]

2 minutes ago, saintlouisbagels said:

The Helldivers 2 community has been so amazing.

Obviously everyone had no issues with following the "Major Order" of review-bombing the game and asking for refunds.

 

We've been trained to exceed all expectations for the last 3 months!

 

Nah dog, HD2 players know how to work towards a single goal.

 

This so much. The game reflexively trained people to focus on objectives and work together, thats a monster you never want to point at yourself.

[RejZoR]

It's funny to me that FOR PROFIT business even considers something so stupid that goes against itself and their profits. Like, whose brilliant idea was to enforce account system that's not even supported in so many countries of the world? It's like they aren't even sure if selling the game is their business or what is. It's hilarious. And then they post a joyful announcement that after consideration and outrage, they are dropping that idea. Like, are you stupid? Why did you announce requirement for 3rd party account in the first place?

[Mark Kaine]

1 hour ago, RejZoR said:

Why did you announce requirement for 3rd party account in the first place?

simple: to gain fake marketing share for anti competitive purposes. 

 

 

[nvhgamer]

Still not completely fixed. Sony still blocks selling Helldivers 2 in non-PSN countries on steam even when PSN is not required anymore: 
Sony Tricked the Helldivers - Twitch (https://clips.twitch.tv/BrightDoubtfulAnteaterWholeWheat-pjT09TBbw_qUzODL)

 

[Spotty]

Glad to see Sony listened to feedback and changed their mind on the PSN requirements. My only concern is in their statement they separated new and current players in to two different groups.  "account linking for new players and for current players" instead of "account linking for players". By separating new players and existing players in to different groups they might be leaving the door open to requiring account linking for new players (but not existing players) in the future. The Steam store page for Helldivers 2 still shows PSN account linking as a requirement for the game.

 

 

8 hours ago, nvhgamer said:

Still not completely fixed. Sony still blocks selling Helldivers 2 in non-PSN countries on steam even when PSN is not required anymore: 
Sony Tricked the Helldivers - Twitch (https://clips.twitch.tv/BrightDoubtfulAnteaterWholeWheat-pjT09TBbw_qUzODL)

Ehh. For whatever reasons Sony has decided not to do business in those regions, hence why PSN is not available in those regions. It was probably just an oversight that people in those countries could buy the game in the first place and Sony only realised after all the controversy and corrected it. Just because Sony is no longer requiring PSN account linking doesn't mean they now want to do business in regions they haven't supported previously. It'd be cool if Sony made it available for those regions, but ultimately as the publisher of the game it's up to them which countries they publish their games in.

Are people in those regions who purchased the game still able to play it? It's still available in their Steam Library? If not, then they should receive a refund.

[Moonzy]

1 hour ago, Spotty said:

Are people in those regions who purchased the game still able to play it?

Yes

 

Unless if you're from Vietnam, which recently banned steam from what I've heard, but that's a them issue

 

1 hour ago, Spotty said:

It's still available in their Steam Library? If not, then they should receive a refund.

It's still playable and they still own the game, and Steam would probably still refund the game in those regions if asked (no official confirmation from steam or Sony yet afaik)

[nvhgamer]

Welp, they added just more blocked countries:
 

 

[Moonzy]

4 hours ago, nvhgamer said:

Welp, they added just more blocked countries:

They are free to sell and not sell their games in whichever country they wish. It's been done before by many other games/industries.

What's not OK is taking away the ability to play the game after selling it to the customer.

I'm curious to see how they handle implementing PSN in the future (I doubt they have given up on it entirely) since they already sold copies to countries that can't make PSN

[GarlicDeliverySystem]

The Act Man made a video about this whole thing. Yes, not really news-worthy, but I have to say the Intro is fcuking sick:

Plus, I never realized that Helldivers 2 had the most negative reviews of any paid game on Steam, with only CS2, DOTA2, and PUBG having more negative reviews. Might put the reaction to the review-bombing into perspective.

 

 

[CarlBar]

11 hours ago, GarlicDeliverySystem said:

Plus, I never realized that Helldivers 2 had the most negative reviews of any paid game on Steam, with only CS2, DOTA2, and PUBG having more negative reviews. Might put the reaction to the review-bombing into perspective.

 

 

I did mention it several posts ago. Like i also said the game trained the playerbase to work together and focus on specific goals. Catching the ire of a community with that tendency is the kind of thing that can only backfire in utterly epic fashion.

 

Also yeha the video intro slaps hard.

[Mark Kaine]

On 5/6/2024 at 9:37 AM, nvhgamer said:

Let's see if they follow through, keep it like this on the long term and with other games, etc.

hint: they won't...  already seen an announcement that Sony plans to do this for every (multiplayer i suppose?) game they publish from now on.  (no source because i forgot where i read it but just you wait, the writing is on the wall anyways)  

 

edit: it was an announcement for "ghost of tushima" or something (idk, i don't play these sort of games lol)