PlayStation Studios
Amongst the multiplayer gaming crowd, “Helldivers 2” has been the surprise sensation of the year so far.
The game launched to good reviews, but was such runaway success – especially on PC where it was a rare day-and-date launch title with the PS5 – that the servers struggled to keep up.
It was the largest launch of any PlayStation Studios game available on PC and has already become the seventh most successful software in Sony Interactive Entertainment’s history with over 8 million units sold in just over its first month.
Now though, the goodwill the game has earned is under fire. On Friday, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced that the PC version of the game on Steam would require users to sign in with a PSN account.
This would take effect for new players this coming Monday (May 6th), and will be required for existing players by June 4th. The requirement was actually built into the game but not implemented at launch due to technical issues.
The announcement was been met with swift criticism from players, and the title finding itself being review bombed on Steam with over 100,000 negative reviews posted in the span of less than 48 hours – accounting for a full one-third of all reviews to date.
Complaints have been far and wide with a good bunch justified – PSN is not available globally in all territories, in some where it is (eg. the UK) there’s strict identity verification requirements, and in others some PC users are unable to create a PSN account without a PlayStation console. Then of course there’s Sony’s rather public history with data leaks.
Steam has since been updated to disallow sales to countries not covered by PSN. The game’s head developer, Arrowhead Studios CEO Johan Pilestedt, tweeted his reaction to what’s happened and from the sounds of it the decision was out of his hands:
“Ouch, right in the review score… Well, I guess it’s warranted. Sorry everyone for how this all transpired. I hope we will make it up and regain the trust by providing a continued great game experience… I just want to make great games!”
Sony itself says in a statement the linking requirement is over safety and security concerns:
“Account linking plays a critical role in protecting our players and upholding the values of safety and security provided on PlayStation and PlayStation Studios games.”
Players have been told to contact Sony’s support team if they had any questions. The bad news keeps piling up for the game industry this year in the wake of mass layoffs, game cancellations, a lack of new titles, and underperforming sales even as revenue overall is up as players stick with their old favorites.
Source: VGC, Kotaku
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