Helldivers 2: PSN account controversy continues: Steam sales stop in many countries

Helldivers 2 has recently been the victim of review bombing after it was made public that in the future it will also be necessary to link a PSN account on Steam. The controversy is now entering the next round – and this is resulting in a sales stop in many countries.

Helldivers 2 is one of the surprise successes of the 2024 gaming year and has enjoyed greater popularity among action fans to date. Recently, however, the game has been the victim of review bombing after it was announced that in the future it will also be necessary to link to a PSN account when gaming via Steam – and that is upsetting to players.

Sony had announced that the linking of accounts would be valid for new players from May 6th and for existing customers from June 4th – and a number of gamers subsequently threatened to leave the action game. Despite the controversial discussions and review bombing, the number of players on Steam has not collapsed to date. The peak number of simultaneous gamers in the last 24 hours was still over 114,000 gamers, just below the around 120,000 that represented the average value of the previous days.

But the whole controversy has long since moved on to the next round. Jhan Pilestedt, CEO of developer Arrowhead, has spoken out on social media and apologized for how this matter unfolded. “I hope we can make amends and regain trust by delivering a consistently great gaming experience,” Pilestedt said.

A community manager from the development studio pointed out that the decision was not made at Arrowhead, but primarily at Sony. A few more details are expected, especially regarding the regions where PSN is not available at all. Sony itself has now changed the FAQ about PlayStation games on the PC. Until now it was stated that linking to a PSN account was purely optional, but now it is said that some PlayStation games on the PC require this.

As a result, Arrowhead Game Studios assured that linking to a PSN account would not be mandatory, at least in regions where the PlayStation Network does not exist in this form. In this case, players who have previously had access to Helldivers 2 would at least not be completely excluded.

Community Manager Spitz emphasizes: “The feedback from our development team is pretty much entirely negative and we are looking for better options. If a better solution is not available for players in regions without PSN coverage, I have been assured that “We will not make this requirement mandatory for these players.”

However, there are apparently completely different consequences on Steam: Helldivers 2 has apparently been taken off sale in over 170 countries in the last few hours. This is evident from the SteamDB. The background is probably the fact that PSN is only available in 69 countries around the world. The whole topic will probably keep us busy for a while!