According to SteamDB, Helldivers 2 has been put back up for sale on Steam in certain countries, which hopefully means that those affected by its delisting can get back into the action.
06.05.2024 - 13:59 / gamesradar.com / Kaan Serin / Sony
The Helldivers 2 debacle has reached new hellish lows as the year's best-selling game is now unavailable on Steam in over 170 countries.
Earlier this week, publisher Sony announced that all Helldivers 2 PC players would soon need to link to an active PlayStation Network account or lose access to the game, a mandate that was once a simple option at launch and has since led to thousands of negative user reviews hitting the once widely popular shooter.
A Helldivers 2 community manager just yesterday assured that people in countries without PSN coverage could continue playing the game and wouldn't be blocked. But now, Helldivers 2 has been pulled from more than 170 territories lacking PSN coverage, according to listings from Steam Database. While some global players won't be able to join the fight and buy the game, it's unclear if existing Helldivers 2 owners will be able to continue playing if they live in unsupported regions.
Helldivers 2 on Steam is now unable to purchase in numerous countries after it was announced that a PSN login will soon be required.Steam has also been approving refund requests for players even if they've played over 2 hours https://t.co/8O7etaebpH pic.twitter.com/0P5hcOyiaLMay 5, 2024
Either way, that's a massive blow to Helldivers 2 - a game that became one of Sony's all-time best-sellers thanks to the PC version - and it raises questions about why the game was available in those territories to begin with, especially if the PSN mandate was always planned, as Sony said in its announcement note.
Ignoring its own policies, Steam stewards Valve have also reportedly been issuing refunds to several long-time Helldivers that have logged into Super Earth space for more than 100 hours. Steam policy normally doesn't allow for refunds if a player exceeds two hours in-game, but since the PSN requirement came months after launch, Valve (rightly) seems to be making an exception.
A Helldivers 2 developer recently reiterated that the PSN change came from Sony, not the talented team at Arrowhead Studios, so issuing refunds is probably the most effective route to getting a message across, as opposed to shouting toxicity at devs. Sony also announced the mandate on a Friday, and thus, has yet to officially respond to the backlash that has escalated pretty wildly in just a few days.
Still playing? Check out everything in the upcoming Polar Patriots Warbond .
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According to SteamDB, Helldivers 2 has been put back up for sale on Steam in certain countries, which hopefully means that those affected by its delisting can get back into the action.
Following Sony's decision last week to delist Helldivers 2 in 170 regions worldwide on Steam, it seems this will be the firm's PC stance moving forward, and it has since done the same for the imminent PC release of Ghost of Tsushima. More regions have been added to the list, taking the total number of territories affected to 180, which is now consistent across both titles.
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The Helldivers 2 community has been through a lot lately, with everything from failed Major Orders to Sony’s aborted attempt to force PC players to link their accounts to PSN to contend with. Now, the community’s attention has shifted onto a player who has unwittingly become the focus of an altogether more wholesome story.
Helldivers 2 is still being removed from sale on Steam in more countries, even after publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) scrapped its hugely controversial PSN mandate.
The Helldivers 2 PSN debacle might be over, but a similar requirement is restricting access to Ghost of Tsushima's PC port in over 170 territories.
Sigh… here we go again. We just got through a major brouhaha involving Sony requiring PSN linking for Helldivers 2 after initially not asking for it at launch, which led to a major backlash and review bombing campaign and, eventually, Sony reversing course. While some would say the reaction was rather overblown, one of the issues was that a number of countries in the world simply don’t have access to PSN, which led to Helldivers 2 being delisted in those regions (in fact, even Sony’s after reversal on the issue, they’re still delisted).
Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut appears to have been delisted in countries that can't access the PlayStation Network. This comes after Helldivers 2 was controversially set to force PC players to link with a PSN account to continue playing, a move that Sony eventually reversed after it was met with intense backlash and review bombing.
Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has released the Polar Patriots Premium Warbond as planned after the boss of the studio polled fans on whether it should go ahead so soon after what he called “negative sentiment” over the game’s PlayStation Network account linking.
Fans of Helldivers 2 have started a petition asking developers Arrowhead to reinstate a fired employee in charge of community management. The employee, "Spitz", was let go following the fiasco in which Sony told PC players they would need to link their Steam and PlayStation Network accounts to continue playing the shooter. Sony and Arrowhead changed their mind about that after player backlash in the form of 100,000+ negative reviews on Steam. The kicker? Community manager "Spitz" was low-key encouraging players to continue the review bombing. This doesn't seem to have gone down well internally.
After Sony U-turned on its controversial decision to force Helldivers 2 PC gamers to account link to PlayStation Network, the game’s community has launched an initiative to drag Steam user reviews out from under rock bottom.
Helldivers 2 PC players who live in regions without access to the PlayStation Network will still be able to play the game, even after the account linking mandate comes into effect, according to one developer.