PlayStation announced they have reversed their decision on the upcoming Helldivers 2 update, requiring all Steam players to link a PSN account.
It is always a struggle for gamers when companies make questionable decisions, like Escape From Tarkov’s latest announcement. Thank the heavens, this was not the case with the latest online discourse on Helldivers 2’s latest announcement. PlayStation posted on X they will be scrapping their plans to require Helldivers 2 players on Steam to sign in with a PlayStation Network (PSN) account.
The original announcement for this enforced plan came last Friday, and was met with significant backlash from players as it had over 100,000 negative reviews on Steam in less than 48 hours. The requirement was originally supposed to take effect at its launch back in February, but was temporarily removed due to technical issues. The game was pulled from over 150 countries on Steam, due to them not having access to the PlayStation Network.
PlayStation must not have realized the errors of their ways by implementing what seemed like a simple account link requirement. The official PlayStation X account tweeted this as their statement:
“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. 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.”
The news was a sigh of relief for fans, including the CEO of Helldiver 2 developer Arrowhead Johan Pilestedt. Pilestedt said on Sunday that Arrowhead was “talking solutions” with PlayStation on the matter. He thanked fans for their ability to voice their concerns and force the change, along with PlayStation for their ability to listen to the fan base. Additionally, he also shared that it was his decision to disable account linking at launch so that players could play the game.
“Firstly, I am impressed by the willpower of the Helldivers 2 community and your ability to collaborate,” he wrote on X. He continued his thanks, “Secondly I want to thank our partners and friends at PlayStation for quickly and effectively making the decision to leave PSN linking optional. We together want to set a new standard for what a live game is, and how developers and community can support each other to create the best game experiences.”
The change has already led to a turn of user reviews becoming positive again on Steam. On Friday, user reviews were 95% negative, 96% negative on Saturday and 98% negative on Sunday. Today, of the 28,000 reviews submitted today, only 52% are negative. Also, the game is currently still unavailable in more than 150 countries it was pulled from on Steam, but it appears that access will be restored to those areas in the near future.
Account linking has not been an unheard of part of games, and I understand how annoying it can be. The EA client launcher linked through Steam always slows down my startup to play Star Wars Jedi Survivor, and always infuriates me because I just want to play it in quick 1 to 2-hour chunks. Hopefully, PlayStation can focus its efforts back on the game’s quality of life and gameplay now. It has been one of the most popular games this year with its successful sales numbers, selling an estimated 8 million units as of March 2024.
