Helldivers 2 players are celebrating the victory against PlayStation’s mandate to link with Steam accounts. The community is now optimistic that the company will also listen to its pleas regarding the censorship of Stellar Blade.
The controversy was a learning curve for Sony and proof that the community can influence the decisions of the people who run the company. Although these two issues are unrelated, there’s still hope for change and the right step forward for the industry.
Stellar Blade and Helldivers Are a Learning Experience for Sony
It’s wholesome to see a peaceful resolution to a problem, although the gaming community went to certain extremes, like review bombing both Helldivers developed by Arrowhead on Steam, to gain the publisher’s attention. Sony underestimated what the community’s capable of and made the right choice to retract the mandate, but the game isn’t the only problematic project that fans hope to see resolved.
This is a MAJOR win and I genuinely hope they continue to listen to us. Now we just have these to sort out:
– Stellar Blade Censorship
– Anime Streaming Service (Near) Monopoly
– Playstation Wants To Split Games Into Multiple – Purchases Totaling $150 Dollars
– Crunchyroll &… https://t.co/JcvITIilyg— Vara Dark (@Vara_Dark) May 6, 2024
The fight for a true and free gaming experience is far from over for other players. Passionate fans of Shift Up’s first console game even started a petition to undo the censorship by the publisher.
I'm glad for Helldivers bros but not a single comment or acknowledgment of Stellar Blade censorship.
You really just care about the numbers.#FreeStellarBlade https://t.co/DWa9Kbd505 pic.twitter.com/WTPmOUgbMn
— LearningTheLaw (@Mangalawyer) May 6, 2024
Perhaps the mindset of the community is that it was able to pressure Sony to undo its decision regarding the linking situation with Steam for PC players, and it can capture the same lightning twice to save this game.
#Helldivers2 #FreeStellarBlade Great. Now make it available to all the countries you delisted the game from. Still haven't forgotten about Shift-Up and Stellar Blade. Revert the censorship and gore. Let the devs create what they want.
— FaerieFayeCat (@FaerieFayeCat) May 7, 2024
The conservative nature of the publisher clashes with director Hyung-Tae Kim’s vision, which involves some daring character designs but has no malicious intent; it just happened to be the director’s way to appeal to the audience and depict powerful female heroes.
These two games have achieved incredible milestones. Shift Up’s first attempt at console gaming now has the highest user score on Metacritic, and Arrowhead certainly didn’t anticipate this level of success. The latter’s title is the best-selling game of the year, and players are beginning to restore its honor and respectable status.
PlayStation Fans Are Optimistic for Stellar Blade to Receive the Helldivers 2 Treatment
In a perfect world, perhaps all of these issues wouldn’t exist if Sony were considerate of its consumer base and respected the vision of the developers. Unfortunately, it’s all business, and there are reasons behind certain decisions that are questionable in the eyes of players.
There’s no doubt that these complaints are being acknowledged and discussed within the walls of the publisher, and if the fans can unite and come together again, Shift Up’s title could be redeemed. There are members of the community out there who’re more on the speculative side and deduce that the censorship is part of an elaborate scheme to weaken the developers into submission, which is highly unlikely and unethical.
Nevertheless, the decision to undo the integration with Steam is a positive indication that the publishers are listening, and they now fear the community.
Are you hoping to see Stellar Blade get the same treatment as Helldivers 2? Let us know in the comments!
