Decisions made by developers and publishers are not always met with approval from the community. Helldivers 2 shows how the community can assert itself and persuade large corporations to rethink their approach
Helldivers 2 is described as a “hectic and wild third-person shooter” in the Steam store. Attributes that the game from Arrowhead Studios emphatically lived up to in the first three months after release – even outside of the game.
Publisher Sony was responsible for this. The PlayStation developer had announced an update for the beginning of May, which caused a lot of discussion among the title’s PC players. The update was supposed to mean that PC players would have to create an account on the PlayStation Network (PSN) and link it to their Steam account in order to play Helldivers 2. Allegedly a “security measure” that numerous players could hardly comprehend due to recurring data leaks and successful hacker attacks on the PSN.
Numerous Steam users are left out
The bigger crux, however, only became clear at second glance: the network, which was previously only mandatory on Sony’s own consoles, is available in significantly fewer countries and regions than the Steam distribution platform. While PC gamers in Georgia, Monaco or Vietnam, for example, can easily access Valve’s software and buy and play games listed there, they are unable to create a PSN account. Those affected would therefore no longer have been able to access the game for just three months after the update was released – not including workarounds that potentially contradict the terms of use
The community reacted accordingly indignantly to the announcement of the update, which was made even more piquant by a statement from Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt. While Sony was minimalist in its external presentation, the Swede revealed, among other things, that the PSN requirement had already been planned before launch. “We had to deactivate account linking at launch and are now reactivating it,” he replied to a critical comment under his own X-Post, adding fuel to the Helldivers fans’ fire.
Their criticism then changed and became richer in accusations of fraud. At the heart of the new accusations: The question of why Sony was distributing the game at all in regions that would potentially be excluded from playing the game in the near future due to the already planned update – including speculation about the legality or illegality of this move.
Valve steps in
What followed was a cascade of bad reviews of the previously extremely positively reviewed title on Steam, which was then even taken down itself. Only shortly after changing its own return policy, Valve suspended the new guidelines for all Helldivers 2 players from non-PSN-enabled countries so that they could reverse the unplayable purchase. In addition, the game was no longer available for sale in affected countries and regions.
Probably the final nail in the coffin for Sony’s planned update. Instead of rolling out the update as planned, the company spoke out via X with a backwards roll. “Helldivers fans – we’ve heard your feedback on the account linking update for Helldivers 2,” the official PlayStation account introduced the statement, “the May 6 update, which would have required linking Steam and PSN accounts of new and current players as of May 30, will not be proceeding.”
This news pleased not only the players but also the Arrowhead CEO, as he also announced on X: “I am impressed by the willpower of the Helldivers 2 community and your ability to work together.” Pilestedt now wants to use this as an opportunity to become a figurehead with “our partners and friends at PlayStation”: “Together, we want to set a new standard for what a live game is and how developers and the community can support each other in creating the best gaming experiences. “