Helldivers 2 Drops PlayStation Network Requirement on PC

Steam users will NOT have to have a PSN account for Helldivers 2.

By Marc Deschamps

After days of negative publicity, PlayStation announced this morning that it will no longer be going forward with its planned changes to Helldivers 2 on PC. Today was going to be the first day that new sales for the game on Steam would require a PlayStation Network ID to continue playing, with existing players forced to set up an account at the end of the month. The move resulted in the game being inundated with negative reviews on Steam, and the delisting of Helldivers 2 in more than 150 countries. In a post on Twitter, PlayStation called the feedback from players "invaluable." 

"Helldivers fans -- we've heard your feedback on the Helldivers 2 account linking update. The May 6 update, which would have required Steam and PlayStation Network account linking for new players and for current players beginning May 30, will not be moving forward," a statement on the official PlayStation Twitter account reads. "We're still learning what is best for PC players and your feedback has been invaluable. Thanks again for your continued support of Helldivers 2 and we'll keep you updated on future plans."

A Win for Steam Users

Prior to Friday's announcement about the requirement, Helldivers 2 was getting universal praise, and had become one of the year's best-selling games; however in the last few days, many players were actually getting refunds for Helldivers 2, rather than going through the hassle of creating a PSN account. It's not too surprising that PlayStation went back on these changes as a result, but no one could have predicted a policy change would happen so quickly. The company clearly saw this as a losing issue and realized that the bad will and lost sales from Steam users wasn't worth any potential gains. 

The change in direction was met with universal praise from players across social media. Some are already talking about reinstalling the game, and how PlayStation could have handled the situation better to begin with. As PlayStation noted in its statement, the company is still learning about how to approach PC gaming, and how that differs from its console audience. With PlayStation increasingly releasing its games on Steam, the company is going to have to figure out what PC users are going to embrace, and what's going to lead to frustration. 

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How Will PlayStation Handle Future Steam Releases?

It will definitely be interesting to see what PlayStation takes away from this experience. Will future Steam releases require a PSN account at launch, or will PlayStation move away from that entirely? Some Helldivers 2 players suggested that they wouldn't have minded this requirement as much if they knew about it ahead of time, rather than having it forced upon them months after release. The whole fiasco with the game being delisted in certain territories could have also been avoided that way. It's impossible to predict where things might go from here, but this is definitely a win for PC users. 

Are you happy that PlayStation decided to go back on this Steam change? What do you think will happen with future PlayStation releases on PC? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!

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