Sony just got a taste of libertea! In what was perhaps the Helldivers 2 community's biggest test of strength to date, they banded together and forced Sony to backtrack on its stance requiring PC players to link their Steam accounts to a PlayStation Network account.
"Helldivers fans -- we’ve heard your feedback on the Helldivers 2 account linking update," Sony announced today. "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."
"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," the company added.
Last week, Sony pissed off basically the entire Helldivers 2 community when it announced that anyone playing on Steam would have to link their account to a PlayStation Network account. The problem with this is that PlayStation Network is not available in over 170 countries which meant anyone in any of these territories would lose access to the game.
The Helldivers 2 community voiced their displeasure, mostly through review bombing the game on Steam. The game received thousands of negative reviews, lowering its positive reception to "mixed." The recent reviews, which at one point was "overwhelmingly negative" is now back at "mixed."
Following Sony's announcement today, Arrowhead Studios CEO Johaan Pilstedt took to social media to commend the Helldivers 2 community for their "willpower" and "ability to collaborate." He also thanked Sony for making the decision to leave PSN linking optional.
Released back in February for PlayStation and PC, Helldivers 2 has been one of this year's biggest games. The cooperative third-person shooter — a sequel to 2015's Helldivers — achieved both critical and commercial success, scoring high reviews and selling over 8 million units within the first two months.
The game is viewed by many as the gold standard for what a Games as a Service title should be. It's unfortunate that Arrowhead Studios had to deal with the blowback for a decision that clearly wasn't up to them, but credit to Sony for recognizing it was a bad move and backtracking quickly.