In an interesting turn of events, Sony Interactive Entertainment has finally decided to overturn the mandatory linking of Steam and PlayStation Network IDs for Helldivers 2.
The decision comes a mere 3 days after Helldivers 2 announced that players would need to link their existing accounts to a PSN ID in order to continue playing – which sparked outrage within the PC gaming community.
The announcement was met with disdain from almost the entirety of the PC playerbase, with many taking to social media to voice their frustrations at both publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment and developer Arrowhead Studios.
This was shortly followed by a bombardment of negative reviews on the official Steam store page of the game – settling it down to an embarrassing Mostly Negative score.
To make matters worse, Steam began to offer refunds to players, irrespective of total playtime – which coupled with the entire delisting of Helldivers 2 in multiple countries (which had no official access to PSN) was shaping up to be quite the nightmare for Sony.
The account linking was to be enforced starting May 6 for new accounts, while existing accounts had until May 30 to comply.
It would seem that Sony has finally heard the grievances of the PC playerbase, opting to put out an official X post confirming the removal of the PSN ID requirement entirely from Helldivers 2. The May 6 update for Helldivers 2 is live, bringing with it the promise of additional plans and/or content in the near future.
The decision was met with an overwhelmingly positive response, with players celebrating their “success” on social media platforms such as X.
While the actual impact of turnover remains to be seen, it is certain to have long lasting effects on future PC releases by PlayStation – such as the upcoming Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut release.
