Review bombing taking place.
"CALLING IN AN EAGLE"
The aftermath looks like a cluster bomb dropped "danger close".
Was the account linking mentionned anywhere on steam?
~~It's really feels like a new condition sneaked in...~~ Edit: apparently it was clearly stated on steam and on the first launch of the game. I really have bad skipping habits...
The "it's to protect players against hakerzzzzz" doesn't feel very legit.
This is absolutely a Sony push to get more data the game was released without the need of having a ps account
But they own Arrowhead. They already have 100% of the data and telemetry.
No they don't?
Helldivers 2 was produced with a Sony publishing deal, but unless I missed some news, Arrowhead is still independently owned.
If you make a PSN account you have to agree to their ToS, which probably lets them do more than a EULA does.
It also boosts user numbers, which looks good on paper.
How else are they going to make their subscription numbers look like they are going up when no one is buying PS5s?
If you read the announcement, it's obviously a very carefully worded prepared statement from Sony that they've been given and ordered to pass out. The hackers reasoning is made up and just the best excuse they could come up with, Sony wants more data in their environment and they're being forced to comply.
What a dumb move, timing this with trying to convince people to buy the new warbond. Hopefully Sony reverses this decision after seeing how badly this damages the health of the game.
Unfortunately for those requesting refunds, unless you're in an area that's soon to be excluded, you likely won't get your money back. The game has had the requirement for the PSN account linking listed on the Steam page since day 1, so it's unlikely that Valve will do much in this situation.
Arrowhead isn't free of guilt in this, but Sony and Valve should have both done a much better job at making this clear to players earlier on, since they're in charge of marketing/sales on PC. Like, in-game messaging would have been good for this. They also should have never allowed the sale of the game on regions PSN isn't available to in the first place, since they already knew they would killswitch non-linked accounts eventually.
What a disappointing day for democracy.
Arrowhead isn’t free of guilt in this, but Sony and Valve should have both done a much better job at making this clear to players earlier on, since they’re in charge of marketing/sales on PC.
Well they kinda did. When you first launched the game it did say that you need a PSN account to play. I know this because that's when I learned PSN isn't available in my country. But you were able to skip it and after skipping you never saw this notification again. Valve also has it on the store page "Requires 3rd-Party Account: PlayStation Network (Supports Linking to Steam Account)", but nobody reads those little notices. I don't blame anyone for missing that information, especially since not linking PSN accounts has not affected the game for months.
And if you want a really fun fact. Web archive link because I imagine Sony is going to change it, but on the Playstation website they explicitly state "Signing in to PSN is optional when playing a PlayStation game on PC.".
I'm not going to to anything hasty. I hope Sony walks it back because I do enjoy the game, but if by June nothing has changed I will ask a refund from Valve because I'll literally be unable to play the game, unless I go against PSN ToS. I have no problem getting on the FUCK SONY train once they've left me no other choice.
Crummy move to do after release.
What's next? Verification butt plug?
How kind of them to remind us that a live-service game is still a live-service game, and that arrowhead is still owned by a for-profit corporation.
I still plan to play, though. Wasn't account linking already required for crossplay, or was that a separate thing?
Are there so many non profit organizations in game development and publishing that a reminder was required?
If you take a look at its reception, the community definitely treats it like a major departure from other live service game practices. I’d tend to agree— the price, micro transactions, content and quality all seem very fair compared to other live service games in the space.
I don’t own a PlayStation and by extension don’t have an account. So I have to sign up for a service I have no desire for to play?
Well that's horseshit.
Please inform any inactive / retired Helldivers to ask for a refund if their country does not support a PS account as they should not have been able to play the game in the first place.
I am unable to verify which countries are affected.
I loved this game but PSN isn't available in Estonia so I'm just locked out a month from now. I don't even want a refund, I just wanna play with my wife and friends.
Yeah. I've enjoyed helldivers 2 and this change doesn't affect me personally, but I really hope they re-consider this change for players like you.
Big thanks for sharing this, this is my chance to ask for a refund.
I like the game's flavor and I think it's a good game but I just didn't get into it.
Okay, fuck that noise. That is all
Glad I didn't buy into the hype on this one.
Honestly I am too old and experienced to buy into hype. This game is fun - no ifs, no buts - it's fun.
Whatever else is going on - if you get to play this, it's fun.
Any bullshit around the game sucks for those involved - but I would say, the "hype" is justified.
It wasn't required before? I was prompted to do it when I launched the game for the first time, and it didn't look like I could skip it. I fumbled with it for a bit because I apparently already had a PSN account with my email when i tried to make one, and ended up having to reset the password.
There was a skip button when I installed it. I guess there was some fine print I didn't read saying it's mandatory lol.
I was pretty late to the party tbh (the TCS had been deployed right before I started playing), so maybe the option to skip account linking had already been removed at that point? Either that or I was distracted while going through the first time launch.
Yeah you could just close out of it even though the language made it seem mandatory. I made an account, my friends did not.
It did say it was required, but it was in fact not. Tripped me up too.
Whelp, fun while it lasted. This game is going to be dead within a month so I guess I'll stop playing now lol ...
I'm keen to buy this.
Does it mean I need to create a PlayStation account to play the game ?
Yes and if you live in a region that doesnt allow playstation access - there are some - then your shit out of luck
When I asked Sony's support about playing in the Philippines they replied with
I'm pretty sure that, even under guidance from a support rep, Sony would still ban your account for not registering it in a valid country if they ever somehow detected it.
They really need to put out some concise messaging on this, ASAP.
They have put out concise messaging. They have committed fraud selling a product which now cannot be played in multiple locations. That was the messaging.
Yeah, allowing the game to be sold in regions where PSN isn't available was a huge fuck-up. Sony and Valve really dropped the ball here.
Wow. I was thinking about buying this, but it will absolutely never happen now.
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