In the last five days, Helldivers 2 was removed from the PC market in 177 countries and the game’s Steam reviews collapsed under the weight of more than 200,000 negative ratings, falling from Positive to Mixed. It’s Tuesday now and Helldivers 2 The Steam page is full of people spewing anti-Sony and celebrating democracy, and for anyone taking a first look at the game, it’s all a bit confusing.
Here’s what’s going on.
Helldivers 2 is a co-op third-person shooter developed by independent team Arrowhead Game Studios and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It went live on PlayStation 5 and Steam on February 8, marking a rare instance of cross-platform parity from Sony. immediately, Helldivers 2 was a hit on PC – it had more concurrent players on Steam than any other PlayStation game, beating it God of War, Spider-Man Remastered, Horizon Zero Dawn and The Last of Us Part I. Helldivers 2 was so popular in the first few weeks that Arrowhead’s servers couldn’t keep up with the demand and had to be limited to 450,000 players.
“I’m completely exhausted by the success,” Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilstedt tweeted one week after launch. “So is the team, many, many late nights, on-calls, emergency meetings, discussions about server capacity, shards, capacity units, CPU usage, entry levels and CCUs. Tired, but very, very happy.”
Helldivers 2 is one of the first tests of Sony’s long-term multi-platform goals. While Pilestedt was taking stock Helldivers 2During Sony’s launch week, Sony executives were telling investors about their new plans to aggressively pursue PC revenue streams. Sony president Hiroki Totoki said the goal is to “proactively work on” releasing first-party games on PC alongside the PlayStation, a shift from the company’s longtime console approach.
Helldivers 2 is not a first-party Sony game, but is exclusive to the PlayStation 5 console, and Sony supports its development as its publisher. While Helldivers 2 had a Steam page, it also had a yellow notification box warning players that they would need to connect a PlayStation Network account to play. According to Sony, account linking is entirely for the sake of security and cross-platform play, but of course it also helps increase the studio’s PSN monthly active users.
Due to the game’s early network issues, Sony decided to postpone the requirement to link accounts when Helldivers 2 went live on Steam on February 8th. It hit the digital storefront for $40 with no notable region restrictions or account linking. For nearly three months, Helldivers 2 had its moment in the sun.
And then it started burning. On Thursday, May 2, Sony announced that all Helldivers 2 Steam players will need to log into their PSN accounts to continue accessing the game on PC. The requirement will go into effect for new players on May 6, and existing players will begin seeing a mandatory login prompt at the end of the month.
“Due to technical issues launching the Helldivers 2, we have allowed the requirements to link Steam accounts to a PlayStation Network account to be temporarily optional,” Sony said in a statement. “This grace period will now expire.”
Normally, this wouldn’t be a major problem, as PSN accounts are free and it’s relatively painless to connect one to Steam. However, Helldivers 2 are sold worldwide, while PSN is only available in 73 countries. This would leave over 100 countries and territories in the lurch, with those players unable to play a game they’ve already paid for. Refunds were also out of the question for most players – especially the most dedicated ones – as Steam typically limits them to games that have been played for less than two hours. The bad reviews started pouring in.
Neither Arrowhead nor Sony seemed to know what to do next. Sony publishes an FAQ in Helldivers 2 Discord, which offered no solutions and instead appeared to advise affected players to create PSN accounts in different countries, a violation of the platform’s terms. It became clear through tweets and Discord updates that while Sony was the driving force behind the PSN requirement, the Arrowhead developers hated it. They even encouraged a review riot.
“I want people to voice their displeasure in a place where it can actually matter, Steam reviews and refund requests will do that, angry Discord posts won’t,” Arrowhead Community Manager Spitz published on the game’s Discord server on Friday. “And I’m not happy with this decision.”
Over the weekend, more than 200,000 people posted negative reviews of Helldivers 2 on Steam, lowering its overall rating. On Sunday, May 5, Sony silently removed Helldivers 2 from Steam in 177 countries and territories who do not have access to PSN.
That same day, Arrowhead CEO Pilestedt tweeted, “We’re talking PlayStation solutions, especially for non-PSN countries. Your voice was heard and I do my best to speak for the community, but I don’t have the last word.
On May 6, the day the PSN requirement was supposed to go live for new players, Sony backed down. The company tweeted that its plans to link accounts “will not go ahead”. The message continues: “We’re still learning what’s best for PC players, and your feedback is invaluable. Thank you again for your continued support of Helldivers 2 and we will keep you posted on future plans.”
Helldivers 2 now playable in any region that has Steam with the option to link a PSN account. It should be noted that it cannot be bought in the countries that were blocked by Sony on May 5th. However, the game’s PC review score is slowly recovering as the rebels return to correct their rankings, now along with cheeky announcements about the power of democracy.
On Monday, Pilestedt cited Sony’s counter-tweet and added, “First off, I’m impressed with the willpower of the @helldivers2 community and your ability to collaborate. Second, I want to thank our partners and friends at @PlayStation for quickly and efficiently making the decision to make PSN linking optional. Together, we want to set a new standard for what live gaming is and how developers and the community can support each other to create the best gaming experiences.
with Helldivers 2, the problem of connecting accounts was easily avoided. Sony knowingly sold a game to people who wouldn’t be able to play it – but first gave them a paid trial and three months of false hope. At best, it appears that Sony was completely unaware of the logistics that would support a bold new PC strategy. At worst, it all looks slightly diabolical.
It is not clear what in 2024 Helldivers 2 The Steam Riots will matter for Sony’s future games on PC, but another test is coming soon with the release of the Ghost of Tsushima director’s cut on May 16. Just like Helldivers 2, the game’s Steam page contains a small yellow rectangle warning players that it requires a PSN account for online multiplayer and the PlayStation overlay. According to SteamDB, Ghost of Tsushima it is currently sold in several countries that do not have PSN.
Like Helldivers 2 the drama started on may 3rd, Ghost of Tsushima developer Sucker Punch Productions replied to a concerned fan on X with the following clarification about linking accounts: “Just so you’re aware, a PSN account is required for Legends online multiplayer mode and to use the PlayStation overlay. You don’t need to play the single player game.’
As long as the terms of engagement are clear and Sony isn’t trying to pull the rug out from under players three months after the game’s release, it all sounds good. Linking accounts is not a new or even rare scenario in gaming – Microsoft (including Activision Blizzard), Ubisoft, Riot, EA, and most other major video game studios require their own login to access their games on Steam and other third-party storefronts. The problem with Helldivers 2 was not linking an account. The problem was Sony’s short-sighted execution of a high-profile PC launch and poor communication with upset players after the fact.
Most gaming fans want to see PlayStation titles on PC, and Sony wants to squeeze as much money as possible out of its core franchises by putting them on additional platforms — a plan that should be a win-win for everyone. with Helldivers 2it was more like win-lose-win, but at least we got there in the end.
Update, May 7, 3:00 PM ET: This article previously stated that Helldivers 2 was available for purchase on Steam regardless of region, but was still removed in non-PSN countries at publication.
