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PlayStation (Games) Sony

PlayStation Reverses Course on Helldivers 2 PSN Account Requirement 51

PlayStation has reversed course on the Helldivers 2 PSN account requirement, walking back the unpopular policy after a weekend long backlash that included tens of thousands of negative reviews, some of which spread to Sony's other Steam games. From a report: "Helldivers fans -- we've heard your feedback on the Helldivers 2 account linking update. 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," PlayStation wrote on its official account.

"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." PlayStation's decision means that Helldivers 2 players on Steam won't have to link a PSN account in order to play. The unpopular policy, which would have seen new players confronted with a mandatory login beginning this week, resulted in Helldivers 2 being delisted in around 177 countries.
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PlayStation Reverses Course on Helldivers 2 PSN Account Requirement

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  • by KingFatty ( 770719 ) on Monday May 06, 2024 @10:46AM (#64451552)
    The official representative statements cited by IGN do *NOT* say that Sony has changed their stance on requiring PSN accounts. That does not appear to have changed. Sony is thinking about the requirement, but hasn't changed their stance on the account requirement. Rather, the official statements say that the particular *UPDATE* is not going forward. So yeah, you won't be receiving this particular update, but we still don't know if Sony has changed their stance on requiring PSN accounts. My guess, you'll still need one but the update that forces the requirement will just be redesigned or come later.
    • Even though Sony seems to be hedging their bets a bit with their statement, I think even they must realize how disastrous it would be to reverse course again.

      • Well, technically they would not be reversing course again, because they never reversed course yet. No reversing has occurred except for not rolling out one particular update (which surely will be superceded by a forthcoming new update).
      • Even though Sony seems to be hedging their bets a bit with their statement, I think even they must realize how disastrous it would be to reverse course again.

        As disastrous as Destiny, Overwatch, Warframe, War Thunder, Darktide, Rocket League, Fortnight, Minecraft, Ubisoft, Bethesda, Blizzard, Microsoft, EA, Epic ... Valve.

        In other words, it will happen. If not this game then the next, because the PC gaming collective has the memory of a goldfish and we like logging into things to play our games.

      • That's assuming it would be worse than the alternative. The claim is that they need a PSN account in order to effectively ban players, for some unspecified legal reasons. It would be nice if they explained those legal reasons, but if the choice really is between all the self-righteous hollering on the one side, and a game overrun by bots on the other, then Sony may opt for the hollering. People usually cry themselves out after a while anyway.

        This kind of protest really gets me. Gamers get up in arms rath
    • The other thing not mentioned is that Hell Diver 2 was originally supposed to have the PSN requirement. However, it was way more popular than Sony anticipated at launch and their PSN infrastructure could not handle the amount of players interfacing with Steam. So they removed the requirement temporarily while they worked on their infrastructure.

      A major issue is that Steam is in more countries than PSN. A major complaint is that some players will not be able to play the game anymore as their country curren

  • 84,000 negative reviews tend to help a publisher with that...
    • by reanjr ( 588767 ) on Monday May 06, 2024 @11:06AM (#64451602) Homepage

      Steam allowing refunds I think was the champion of this cause. All their revenue was going to get clawed back.

      • Steam allowing refunds I think was the champion of this cause. All their revenue was going to get clawed back.

        It's concerning that nobody else sees the irony of logging into Steam to protest a game requiring a connected account to play.

        Your boos mean nothing, I’ve seen what makes you cheer.

        • Gamers hate monopolies that aren't Valve.
          • Valve isn't a monopoly. There are many different places to get games and Valve poses no barriers to entry. Case in point, this story is about one game requiring an account from a different store to the one controlled by Valve.

            But then people don't complain about monopolies in general. They complain about monopoly abuse. Kind of like how one company (Sony) is saying, our store our rules, we are forcing you to link your account, and how another company (Valve) are saying, "Hey user, it's all up to you, here w

        • Everyone on Steam expects to have to use their Steam account. No one on Steam expects to have to also have a Battlement account, a Microsoft login, a PSN account, an Epic store account, etc.

        • by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Monday May 06, 2024 @01:26PM (#64451924)

          It's concerning that nobody else sees the irony of logging into Steam to protest a game requiring a connected account to play.

          No one is protesting requiring an account. They are protesting requiring two accounts, the second providing them no benefit. They are protesting a mandatory account creation months after the fact. And for a lot of people they are protesting that they have a steam account, but live in one of the 170 countries where they literally cannot sign up for a Play Station Network account meaning the game they bought will become non-functioning.

          • by mjwx ( 966435 )

            It's concerning that nobody else sees the irony of logging into Steam to protest a game requiring a connected account to play.

            No one is protesting requiring an account. They are protesting requiring two accounts, the second providing them no benefit. They are protesting a mandatory account creation months after the fact. And for a lot of people they are protesting that they have a steam account, but live in one of the 170 countries where they literally cannot sign up for a Play Station Network account meaning the game they bought will become non-functioning.

            This. There are a few games I've opted not to buy because they require a third party account and Steam tells you this in advance ("Requires XBox Live account" or some such). I don't care if it can be linked to my Steam account, in fact I don't want 3rd parties linked to my steam account.

            The issue was at launch, Helldivers 2 on PC didn't require a 3rd party account and Sony changed this later in an "I'm altering the deal" type of arrangement. Steam being relative good guys said "Well, I'm refunding the ar

  • Microsoft does some BIOS trickery that even clean installing Windows doesn't get rid of S Mode. You have to at least login with a throwaway MS account in order to deactivate S mode. Happened to me on a cheap laptop. Even Slashdot, a site originally famous for AC posting now ties all AC posting to an account.
    • Even Slashdot, a site originally famous for AC posting now ties all AC posting to an account.

      And nothing of value to anyone other than the trolls was lost.

      I, for one, enjoy not seeing ascii art of Nazi symbols, racist rants, posts about Natalie Portman/hot grits, and all the other bullshit that used to flood the comments to the point where the the comments were unusable for anyone other than trolls.

  • A few years ago Helldivers 2 would have been seen as just another run of the mill shooter. Because that is what it is. It isn't a bad game, but it isn't worth the tsunami of praises that the media, streamers, and the adult children who you work with are screaming for it. PC Gamers are also blind to the Valve monopoly and any competition is seen as an insult to their freedumbs.
    • Steam
      Epic Games
      GOG Galaxy
      IndieGala
      Itch.io
      MS's Xbox app

      And those are just off the top of my head. There are more.

      Steam might be the most popular game frontend/store, but it is far from being a monopoly.

      • Steam has a 75% market share, and their monopoly status was acknowledged by all parties in their Wolfire lawsuit. Steam's defense was based on abuse of that monopoly, not whether they had a monopoly.

        Monopoly does not mean "no competition." Don't make that mistake.
    • by skam240 ( 789197 )

      A friend and myself bought the game to play multiplayer together figuring it was a sure fire win given all the buzz. Both of us are completely baffled as to why this game is so popular. The stratagem system is garbage, there's no story, and the enemies are super simplistic mobs wandering about the open terrain who do nothing interesting when encountered aside from blindly swarm the player every single time.

      The Starship Troopers vibe (the movie not the book) is fun and all but I just don't see any other reas

  • Sony cannot ever be trusted. They make shitty hardware and are an even shittier publisher.

  • They make You think You won, then do their change later on when the focus is on something else.
  • Who said they won't "change their mind" somewhere down the road? It's obvious they are considering it and just telling me that they won't doesn't mean a thing. That would require me to actually trust Sony.

    And at best, I'd thrust them. Into the sun.

  • I assume it went like "We'd be banning the entire continent of Africa BUT we do get hacked about every other year so we'd be preventing them from being included in the hack, offsetting the good with the bad. Thoughts, everyone?"
  • Nobody believes the Harkonnen have just packed up and left. Sony is merely sorry it got caught and trying to preserve their bottom line in order to invest in a bigger dildo to push with.

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