Helldivers is a shooter game that was developed by Arrowhead Studios, published by Sony Computer Entertainment, and released on PlayStation 3, 4, Vita, and Steam in March and December 2015. Now, I’ve never played the game so I can’t speak on it at a personal level, but from what I’ve seen, people seem to have liked the game quite a lot. 
Naturally, a huge check like that generally leads to another installment and, therefore, a sequel followed. Helldivers 2 came out recently on February 8, 2024. A few things were changed up, like the shooter gameplay, which was changed from top-down to third-person. The game was released on the PS Store and Steam and, just like the first game, it was received positively.
People seemed to really like the game’s campaign, with the in-game co-op being fun and beginner-friendly, so anyone could get into the game easily. There aren’t any paywalls that hide all the game-changing things, and everything in the game can be obtained by doing some good-old game grinding.
Unfortunately, things couldn’t just end there because the game’s company had further plans. Earlier this month, on May 3rd, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced that they would be changing the game’s mandates on Steam, requiring all players to make a PlayStation Network account to play the game.
Those who had already purchased the game on Steam would have to have an account ready by June 6th, and first-time players would need one ready starting May 6th. Apparently, all of this was done in order to “protect the privacy of users,” and it was supposed to be implemented at launch, but due to certain issues, it wasn’t.
Now, I may not know much about Helldivers in general, but I do know about companies overlooking their fans, and this caused a severe backlash against Sony. Are you a PC player? Like I said, the game’s been delisted from Steam. Want access to PlayStation? Well, unless you live in the U.S. or any other of the 70 out of 195 countries that do allow it, you’re out of luck (See link at end of article).
To add to the struggle for fans, there’s a chance that some of those countries don’t even let you create an account.
Serbia, for example, will only let people access the website in their native language, with no foreseeable way to actually make a PSN account. Other options, such as the use of a VPN, are not available to fans either. Use it, and you’ll be automatically banned.
Feeling anger at Sony’s actions, fans decided to absolutely trash the game on Steam in retaliation with a total of 84,000 negative reviews. The developers over at Arrowhead Studios actually encouraged this too, stating that they were on the side of the players.
On May 5th, PlayStation’s Twitter account posted a response to the backlash. In short, after they took a look at the responses, Sony decided to backtrack on their decision and not require players to have a PSN account, which I believe is a huge win, or as the kids say, a W.
Sony stated that they will keep looking for ways to protect account security, but won’t pull a stunt like this again, which is great because, normally, people expect companies to double down on decisions like these.
Between employee layoffs and buggy game releases, it seems like video game companies have begun to break the trust between them and gamers, which might lead to a decline in sales and budget. But, all we can do is hope that companies learn from their mistakes and actually listen to their fans when it comes to these types of issues.
