All was going right for Helldivers 2, until suddenly, Sony and PlayStation decided to update the game’s Steam requirements. Now, unless you link your PSN account to Arrowhead Game Studios’ hit sequel, the title is unplayable. This has caused a huge stir in the community and has got fans both deeply concerned and rightfully angry, as unfortunately, PSN isn’t available in every country.
A new shocking statistic shows exactly how many countries the game has been pulled from, and the situation only gets worse from there. Currently, it feels like Helldivers 2‘s reign may come to an end unless Arrowhead and Sony work out a decent way to keep this ball rolling.
90% of Countries Have Just Seemingly Lost Access to Helldivers 2
It certainly feels like the game’s golden age has come to an end. According to SteamDB, the game is now unavailable to purchase in 177 countries, specifically those that do not have access to PSN.
Helldivers 2 is no longer purchasable in 177 countries where PSN is not available (but some are still available like Baltics).
This game has now received 215,000 negative reviews. pic.twitter.com/jJrb9QFafR
— SteamDB (@SteamDB) May 5, 2024
Sitting at over 215,000 negative reviews on Steam now, fans all over the world are furious and cautiously waiting to see how Sony responds to this situation.
A fan responded to this by detailing how this now means that 90% of the world no longer has access to Helldivers 2, even though it was sold globally.
By the way, there's only 195 countries in the world. They literally sold this globally and then removed functionality from 90 fucking percent of the world months after the fact. https://t.co/qhZTKsUi2l
— Chris Voiceman (@ChrisVoiceman) May 5, 2024
The supposed justification that Arrowhead has given over on Discord is that this helps in reporting and banning players in a bid to create a safer, more comfortable environment for all Helldivers 2 players. However, the studio still hasn’t provided any justification for the whole country problem, and the longer the wait, the more restless fans get.
PlayStation and Arrowhead are Still Hard at Work, but Tensions are Rising
Despite Johan Pilestedt’s attempts to calm the situation down, fans are still rampaging all over social sites like X, trying to figure out what Sony’s game plan will be going forward. One such fan responded to the above percentage statistic, explaining how the ones who got the short end of the stick would be better described as ‘territories‘, even though that doesn’t make it a whole lot better.
Headline's a misnomer, should be territories instead of countries, meaning it's pulled from 177 out of 248 territories, rather than 195. Not much better, though, that's still 177 territories (full on country or otherwise) getting the shaft, here.
— pizzaforfree🧭(https://cohost.org/pizzaforfree) (@pizza_for_free) May 5, 2024
It’s only getting more heated from here. Pilestedt has said that he doesn’t hold the final say in this matter, but surely there must be a way out of this debacle.
Is this the moment to tweet "What? You guys don't have phones?" 😵💫
On serious note: We are talking solutions with PlayStation, especially for non-PSN countries. Your voice has been heard, and I am doing everything I can to speak for the community – but I don't have the final…
— Pilestedt (@Pilestedt) May 5, 2024
If this doesn’t get resolved soon, Helldivers 2 will most likely go down as the biggest self-sabotage in gaming history and will only drive away more and more potential fans. The game has had an incredible run, and it shouldn’t slow down just because of account linking.
Previously, account linking was only optional, as it should be, but making it mandatory in a game that doesn’t even have cross-progression, to many, just sounds ridiculous. Arrowhead and Sony still have yet to respond to this matter, but considering the delicateness of this situation, they better act fast.
What do you think of this situation? If Sony owns the title, should linking a PSN account with it on Steam be made mandatory? Let us know in the comments!
