News Helldivers 2 PC gamers will need a PlayStation Network account to continue playing — Sony doesn't care if players don’t own a PlayStation console

[Admin]

Helldivers 2 will require a PSN login by June 4, 2024, so you can continue playing.

Helldivers 2 PC gamers will need a PlayStation Network account to continue playing — Sony doesn't care if players don’t own a PlayStation console : Read more

 

[CelicaGT]

Considering most games require some kind of launcher or account these days this seems par for the course. I find it all quite annoying but Sony isn't being any worse in that regard.

 

[Alvar "Miles" Udell]

How to stop things like this: Don't buy the game.
What people do: Buy the game and whine that things like this exist.

The new term for that is "hate spending" (and it's real).

 

[Makaveli]

Not even sure why this is a story now I've been playing this since launch day. And you had to create a PSN account then and link it to steam before you could play the game.

 

[hotaru251]

but Sony isn't being any worse in that regard.

HD2 is available in regions its impossible to make a PSN.

So for those people they can no longer play a game they sunk a ton of time into & the original purchase and any microtransactions.

If you have a requirement for a game don't have it availible in a region it can't be met and brick their game months afterwards.


also

most games require some kind of launcher or account these days

steam is its own launcher & account. and its by far the one w/ the "most games".

individual games (such as bnet, epic, etc) launchers are actually uncommon overall.

 

[jkflipflop98]

I'm not making a PSN account. I guess that's the end of the road for me in this game.

 

[The Historical Fidelity]

Not even sure why this is a story now I've been playing this since launch day. And you had to create a PSN account then and link it to steam before you could play the game.

That’s not true at all. Sony waived making a PSN account until May 30th due to some problem they had linking to steam. But most purchasers did not read that little box at the bottom of the steam page. So millions of steam based helldivers are just now hearing about this 3 months after they bought the game.

 

[blacknemesist]

That’s not true at all. Sony waived making a PSN account until May 30th due to some problem they had linking to steam. But most purchasers did not read that little box at the bottom of the steam page. So millions of steam based helldivers are just now hearing about this 3 months after they bought the game.

Oh we did read but if you go to the PSN page it is stated that you are not required a PSN account to play a game on PC and searching in the steam section everyone would tell you that they don't have a PSN account and have played always without it since it was removed apparently so it is not mandatory.. except Sony decided to enforce it at this point. Many accounts are only needed for purchases or some other aspects that in this case didn't affect the game at all so many bought it based on that information.
Lesson learned, if it says "required", even if the publisher removes the requirement, I no longer trust that it won't be enforced later.
No one will win here as it is either losing everything you bought or linking an account.
Waiting until the end of the month to check what the outcome is but Sony going back on a bad decision is like asking Nintendo to do something productive with their IPs.

 

[The Historical Fidelity]

Oh we did read but if you go to the PSN page it is stated that you are not required a PSN account to play a game on PC and searching in the steam section everyone would tell you that they don't have a PSN account and have played always without it since it was removed apparently so it is not mandatory.. except Sony decided to enforce it at this point. Many accounts are only needed for purchases or some other aspects that in this case didn't affect the game at all so many bought it based on that information.
Lesson learned, if it says "required", even if the publisher removes the requirement, I no longer trust that it won't be enforced later.
No one will win here as it is either losing everything you bought or linking an account.
Waiting until the end of the month to check what the outcome is but Sony going back on a bad decision is like asking Nintendo to do something productive with their IPs.

Well twinbeard the CEO of the game studio seems to be taking this seriously so he might be able to convince Sony to drop the PSN requirement.

 

[hotaru251]

so he might be able to convince Sony

extremely unlikely.
Publisher has more power and no reason to change. (sony being publisher means they wont change it)

Sony's been fighting a battle in console wars, yes, its got better hadrware and sales, but the console sales were never the profit...its the content & sony's been losing there for ages.
They will likely start making it a req for any game they publish goign forward.

 

[CelicaGT]

HD2 is available in regions its impossible to make a PSN.

So for those people they can no longer play a game they sunk a ton of time into & the original purchase and any microtransactions.

If you have a requirement for a game don't have it availible in a region it can't be met and brick their game months afterwards.


also

steam is its own launcher & account. and its by far the one w/ the "most games".

individual games (such as bnet, epic, etc) launchers are actually uncommon overall.

Several games I own from Steam have the option (not always optional) of its own launcher, even CDprojekt, and as I stated...I don't like it. As for the rest of it buyer beware. Those people never owned any part of that game nor are they owed anything from Sony or any other entity. I think it's absolute BS, but it IS the way things work today. You will own nothing and you will like it. Never spend ANY money on software you wouldn't toss into the gutter otherwise.

 

[The Historical Fidelity]

extremely unlikely.
Publisher has more power and no reason to change. (sony being publisher means they wont change it)

Sony's been fighting a battle in console wars, yes, its got better hadrware and sales, but the console sales were never the profit...its the content & sony's been losing there for ages.
They will likely start making it a req for any game they publish goign forward.

That depends on how the PC gaming community handles this. The majority of copies sold have been to PC gamers who do not put up with crap like this nearly as well as console users. If Sony wants to potentially lose the PC base over Sony’s desire to pump up their PSN numbers for their shareholders, then they can go ahead and try, but they will likely lose significant long term revenue. Steam reviews had been absolutely positive until Sony announced this mandatory PSN. Now there are 40,000 negative reviews within days specifically claiming mandatory PSN registration as the reason.

 

[hotaru251]

Several games I own

and I quote: "most games" is what you claimed.

your game library is a small sample size.

but it IS the way things work today.

except it isn't.
Very few games actually have em.

but they will likely lose significant long term revenue

Sony already made plenty mroe than they planned.
they expected a few thousand not millions.
they likely blew through their estimate goal for the year in a week.

Now there are 40,000 negative reviews within days specifically claiming mandatory PSN registration as the reason.

yes, but as history has shown the vocal minority are just that..a minority. (even 40k is just 10% of their alltime high on steam..and thats just steam so even less overall)

add on to the fact they & we also know people liek to whine and complain but in end msot people suck it up and do it anyways. (we can sue netflix recently as example if you want...they ended acct sharing yet their profits only went up as again people whine but are weak and cave in end if its soemthign they want to enjoy)

Sony has no real reason to change their req...what do they get out of it?

 

[blacknemesist]

yes, but as history has shown the vocal minority are just that..a minority. (even 40k is just 10% of their alltime high on steam..and thats just steam so even less overall)

104k in less than 48hrs, 37k on the 3rd and 66.7k on the 4th also the Warbonds cost $10 and they make 1 per month, not hard to do the math on the money they are passing on because of PSN, it is a completely stupid business decision no matter how you look at it.

 

[CelicaGT]

and I quote: "most games" is what you claimed.

your game library is a small sample size.

except it isn't.
Very few games actually have em.

Sony already made plenty mroe than they planned.
they expected a few thousand not millions.
they likely blew through their estimate goal for the year in a week.



yes, but as history has shown the vocal minority are just that..a minority. (even 40k is just 10% of their alltime high on steam..and thats just steam so even less overall)

add on to the fact they & we also know people liek to whine and complain but in end msot people suck it up and do it anyways. (we can sue netflix recently as example if you want...they ended acct sharing yet their profits only went up as again people whine but are weak and cave in end if its soemthign they want to enjoy)

Sony has no real reason to change their req...what do they get out of it?

You're arguing this way harder than need be. I'm just stating what I've seen. These people want your user metrics that is all. Whether it's PSN, Xbox Live (or whatever it's called this quarter), pick yer PC launcher (Including Steam), whatever. Outside of independent and indie devs... It. Is. Everywhere, no matter what you think is going on. They don't give a flying flip if you think they made enough money, Sony wants that sweet, sweet user data for product aiming and advertising. My opinion on the matter is shared by you, down with all of it. I have a few AAA games that are somewhat off the beaten path, the rest are indies or smaller production houses. All from Steam, who...guess what? Records, uses and probably sells your anonymized usage data, just like PSN and the rest. Sony here just wants their slice directly and this move is unsurprising by anyone who was paying attention.

 

[hotaru251]

the Warbonds cost $10 and they make 1 per month

they expected around single maybe double digit thousands of players not half a million+
they never expected a viral hit.
again they likely already made more $ than they expected for the yr.

it is a completely stupid business decision no matter how you look at it.

many of those are made (look at CS2/ow2/etc) and yet they still rake in the profit.(because again their target audience doesnt care about these things)

the vocal people are the minority of players.
the majority of the ppl who will ever play the game will never ever post about it nor do they really care.

 

[thestryker]

Personally I don't care about the PSN requirement, but based on the way Arrowhead has communicated with the community I think it becoming a requirement wasn't expected on their part. I suspect that if they knew it was only temporary they'd have made the announcement early on. The really big problem here is that the game has been sold in regions without native PSN. This is extremely bad for anyone who will be impacted.

except it isn't.
Very few games actually have em.

All of the following companies sell games with mandatory third party accounts, some are all games and some just multiplayer:
Ubisoft
EA
Activision
Microsoft
Rockstar
Bethesda
2K
Blizzard

Now you may not play many games from big publishers but it is prevalent.

 

[The Historical Fidelity]

they expected around single maybe double digit thousands of players not half a million+
they never expected a viral hit.
again they likely already made more $ than they expected for the yr.


many of those are made (look at CS2/ow2/etc) and yet they still rake in the profit.(because again their target audience doesnt care about these things)

the vocal people are the minority of players.
the majority of the ppl who will ever play the game will never ever post about it nor do they really care.

You are making my case here. Sony expecting thousands of copies sold, instead achieving millions, grows devil horns and forces pc players to register with PSN so they can flaunt their bigger PSN population to their pimps, oops I mean shareholders.

One of the first things I learned when starting my business was “never pursue short term gains while sacrificing long term growth”. Sony is going to put a sour taste in PC gamers mouths, and since Hell divers 2 is the first Sony game for many of them, I would not be surprised if they say NO to Sony games in the future.

I do not know what might happen. You could be correct and big companies can literally do whatever they want to their customers and they’ll keep coming back for more, or they can play it smart and listen. It’ll be interesting to see which outcome occurs.

 

[hotaru251]

I suspect that if they knew it was only temporary they'd have made the announcement early on.

they did mention it in past once i think.

All of the following companies sell games with mandatory third party accounts

yes and again a fraction of games combined. AAA isn't only games made.

grows devil horns and forces pc players to register with PSN so they can flaunt their bigger PSN population to their pimps, oops I mean shareholders.

it was a req prior to becoming viral (so that doesnt matter)
and shareholders wouldnt care as juts having a PSN acct means nothing to them. (a bot could literally make throw away PSN if that mattered)

Sony just wants to get their foot into PC market.

Sony is going to put a sour taste in PC gamers mouths, and since Hell divers 2 is the first Sony game for many of them, I would not be surprised if they say NO to Sony games in the future.

i'd argue most of them don't even know Sony is the publisher :|

and theres other big titled games that they do that are on PC.
The last of us
GoW
HZD
Marvels Spiderman
sackboy
and ofc the 1st HD's.

Given they have already disabled sales of HD2 in places w/o PSN they already chosen their end choice.
https://steamdb.info/sub/137730/history/?changeid=23416542

(edit: also its not like I don't WANT them to change but Its sony and they have a history of not caring)

 

[-Fran-]

Come on guys. Everyone knows what the endgoal is: force PC players to pay for PSN+ later down the line.

This is the usual "just the tip" strategy and the weird Internet Nerds are, for some bizarre reason, defending Sony by telling people "just create the account, it'll be fine!".

I'm hanging my cape and taking the L. Never again, Sony.

Regards.

 

[thestryker]

yes and again a fraction of games combined. AAA isn't only games made.

How is pure quantity of games even remotely relevant? Games from these publishers make up a majority of sales which is what makes third party account requirements common.

 

[thestryker]

Come on guys. Everyone knows what the endgoal is: force PC players to pay for PSN+ later down the line.

This is the usual "just the tip" strategy and the weird Internet Nerds are, for some bizarre reason, defending Sony by telling people "just create the account, it'll be fine!".

I'm hanging my cape and taking the L. Never again, Sony.

Regards.

I understand where you're coming from, but this seems rather unlikely based on the rest of the market. Now if Sony was leading the way I'd agree with you, but they're late to the mandatory third party account requirement party.

they did mention it in past once i think.

Entirely possible, but it wasn't on any of their official channels that's for sure. The CEO today admitted they knew it was going to come back and they just failed at messaging so I was definitely wrong about that.

 

[hotaru251]

How is pure quantity of games even remotely relevant?

becasue the post stated "most" which is quantity statement.
also mobile game market far exceeds pc and console sales and most of them dont have their own launchers.

 

[thestryker]

becasue the post stated "most" which is quantity statement.

If the majority of game sales have third party account requirements that's most is it not?

also mobile game market far exceeds pc and console sales and most of them dont have their own launchers.

Even though you're trying to move the goalposts to be right, which is just poor form, most mobile games aren't sold at all they're F2P with microtransactions.

 

[-Fran-]

I understand where you're coming from, but this seems rather unlikely based on the rest of the market. Now if Sony was leading the way I'd agree with you, but they're late to the mandatory third party account requirement party.

Entirely possible, but it wasn't on any of their official channels that's for sure. The CEO today admitted they knew it was going to come back and they just failed at messaging so I was definitely wrong about that.

Well, Sony changed the rules after the announcement went Live and the brown matter hit the fan.

Sony also bypassed Arrowhead with the announcement and, finally, they have stopped selling the game in the countries which are not part of the PSN leaving those people in those countries with, essentially, a dead game.

Should I keep saying more? Like how Sony just deleted content from people's accounts? Or how they've been telling people from some countries which are in the list, but can't create the account via the web to "just get a PS5 and you can create it from there"?

Regards.