Sony planned to make it mandatory to link a PlayStation account to a Steam account to play the PC version ofHelldiverse 2. A historic review bombing forced him to go back.
Sony almost ruined everything. Since February, a video game has been experiencing success story deserved: thanks to the efforts made by the Arrowhead Games studio, both in communication and development, Helldiverse 2 makes everyone agree. And then, woe: on May 3, PC players learned that they were going to have to link their Steam account to a PlayStation account – a long-planned measure. The start of a huge debacle.
Helldiverse 2 thus suffered a review bombing unprecedented. As can be seen from the SteamDB database, the game received more than 330,000 negative reviews on Steam in three days. Dissatisfied people managed to obtain an “average” overall rating (53% negative reviews), whereas it was previously positive. A handful even attacked the first Helldiverse. Sony could not remain indifferent to this phenomenon, so the multinational decided to backpedal.
Signing in to a PlayStation account will no longer be required in Helldiverse 2
In a tweet published on May 6Sony says it has heard feedback on the account linking update for Helldivers 2. The May 6 update, which would have required linking a Steam account and a PlayStation Network account for new players and returning players starting May 30, will not happen. »
A logical step back: things were getting worse and worse regarding the PC version ofHelldiverse 2, after the announcement of this obligation to link two accounts (and, for many, the creation of a PlayStation ID). Beyond the obligation, this would have been a big problem for those residing in a country where creating a PlayStation Network account is impossible. For them, playing Helldiverse 2 would have been complicated — except to go through a VPN, praying not to suffer a ban.
Before making a much wiser decision, in line with what the fans expect, Sony has completely withdrawn Helldiverse 2 of sale in countries where PlayStation Network is not available. An exceptional reimbursement campaign has also been set up: on this tweetwe can see that a player was able to recover his money even though he had almost reached 100 hours of play (normally, it is two hours maximum according to Steam rules).
Arrowhead Games was at odds with Sony on the subject. In a press release published on May 5the CEO recalled that he was not responsible for the way in which the game is distributed: “ We do not manage the sale of the game. We develop and support it. For the details of how it is distributed, it depends on the publishers and stores. PSN restrictions are a problem for PlayStation. And I didn’t know that you couldn’t create an account in certain countries. »
As reported by Video Gamer in an article published on May 4, the studio’s community manager spoke on Discord to encourage players to express their anger. “ Players expressing their dissatisfaction with reviews and refunds give us weight for our discussions with Sony » we can read. Very followed fan accounts, like Helldivers 2 Media on Twitter, also supported this movement. The goal was to make Sony fold, and it’s a victory. One more for the community.
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