Helldivers 2 has been removed from sale in over 170 territories – WGB
Following the massive backlash just a few days ago, Helldivers 2 has now been removed from sale in approximately 176 regions around the world.
on Friday, Sony announced that all players will need a PlayStation Network account linked to their Steam account to play Helldivers 2 on PC, While this was technically already mandatory and marked on the game's store page months before launch, it was made optional at launch due to technical issues, meaning people could play the game without needing a PSN account. Can play for months.
The game's developer, Arrowhead, has made it abundantly clear via Discord, Twitter/X, and other social media accounts that it was not their decision to reactivate the requirement. However, Arrowhead's CEO takes responsibility, admitting that it was their decision to disable the requirement at launch so people could play properly and doing more to make people aware.
I have a role to play. I'm not innocent in all this – the decision to disable account linking at launch was mine so players could play the game. I didn't make sure the players were aware of the requirement and we didn't talk about it enough.
We knew about 6 months ago…
– Pilested (@pilested) 5 May 2024
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Community reaction has been overwhelmingly negative, including the game receiving hundreds of thousands of negative reviews on Steam, changing its overall rating to mixed. Despite this, the actual number of players remains stable, but this may change once the PSN requirement is fully implemented.
There are many reasons for the backlash, ranging from the simple annoyance of having to create a second account to data security concerns. But the biggest cause for concern is that PSN is only available in a relatively small selection of 69 countries around the world, which is significantly fewer than the regions where Helldivers 2 has been sold. The only way to access PSN in those countries is to use a VPN and provide false information, both of which can get you banned.
In short, anyone who has purchased and played the game outside of the 69 countries where PSN can be accessed will find themselves locked out of Helldivers 2.
It's unclear whether Sony or Steam took this step, but Helldivers 2 has been removed from approximately 176 regions, not all of which have access to the PlayStation Network. Of course, it goes without saying that this should have been done from day one because while Helldivers 2 clearly listed a PSN account as a requirement, it was still sold in regions where it wasn't legal. But could not access PlayStation Network.
We can at least rule out Arrowhead as the reason for the change, because while responding to another X user who asked why they sold the game in regions where PSN is not accessible, Arrowhead's CEO stated that, “We don't manage to sell games.”
It appears that the most likely culprit is Sony itself, perhaps as a way of legally covering up all of its bases. According to the Reddit post, Sony changed its FAQ to say that “some PlayStation games may require you to sign in and link an account to PSN.” It previously read: “Signing in to PSN is optional when playing PlayStation games on PC.” Although any company can change its FAQ and even EULA at any time, it's not a good look for Sony.
Speaking of which, people are claiming that Sony may be ready to take legal action, but that doesn't seem likely because, as said, the PSN account requirement was made clear on the Steam page months before the game launched. was shown formally, and players were encouraged to do so. One when firing up Helldivers 2.
However, regardless of the legality, I think players are right to push back. While the requirement was there, it was not implemented. From a legal perspective, if the terms of a contract are not enforced, it can be seen as essentially ratifying this “new” version by the company.
There have been reports on Reddit that people are successfully claiming refunds for Helldivers 2, even after hundreds of hours of playing. I have no doubt that Steam will provide a refund if you live in a region where the game has been removed. If that's the case, Sony will be billed for the refund and Steam will still keep its piece of the pie.
I personally think Sony will reverse this decision because the PSN requirement doesn't seem worth the PR response, even though it's clearly marked as mandatory and Sony is legally okay to do it. . Much of the success of Helldivers 2 came from PC gamers, and so whether this level of anger is justified or not, it's pointless to anger them over something that doesn't benefit Sony that much.
