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Sony Will Soon Require 'Helldivers 2' PC Gamers To Link Their Steam Accounts To PSN, Angering Users: "Players who made Steam purchases of Helldivers 2 are now, months after the fact, being told by Sony that their games will be useless unless linked to a PSN account," writes longtime Slashdot reader Baron_Yam. From a report: Publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment announced today that Helldivers 2 players on Steam will soon be required to link their in-game profiles to a PlayStation Network account -- a feature that was optional at launch due to "technical issues" -- or risk losing access to the game. SIE explained that account linking allows players to take advantage of "safety and security" provided by PlayStation, as it can more easily protect folks from "griefing and abuse by enabling the banning of players that engage in that type of behavior." Many Steam players haven't responded well to the news. As of the time of writing, over 2,500 negative user reviews have been submitted to the game's storefront page today, blemishing an otherwise spotless "Very Positive" rating. Some reviews cite data harvesting and security concerns as potential worries. Others point to the fact that Sony waited months after launch to make account linking mandatory. How this affects players in regions that don't have access to the PlayStation Network is a bigger concern, though. In the Helldivers 2 Discord, community manager Thomas 'Twinbeard' Petersson said they aren't yet sure what these rule changes meant for players in areas without PSN access, which could be another factor contributing to the negative downturn. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Sony Will Soon Require 'Helldivers 2' PC Gamers To Link Their Steam Accounts To PSN, Angering Users: "Players who made Steam purchases of Helldivers 2 are now, months after the fact, being told by Sony that their games will be useless unless linked to a PSN account," writes longtime Slashdot reader Baron_Yam. From a report: Publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment announced today that Helldivers 2 players on Steam will soon be required to link their in-game profiles to a PlayStation Network account -- a feature that was optional at launch due to "technical issues" -- or risk losing access to the game. SIE explained that account linking allows players to take advantage of "safety and security" provided by PlayStation, as it can more easily protect folks from "griefing and abuse by enabling the banning of players that engage in that type of behavior." Many Steam players haven't responded well to the news. As of the time of writing, over 2,500 negative user reviews have been submitted to the game's storefront page today, blemishing an otherwise spotless "Very Positive" rating. Some reviews cite data harvesting and security concerns as potential worries. Others point to the fact that Sony waited months after launch to make account linking mandatory. How this affects players in regions that don't have access to the PlayStation Network is a bigger concern, though. In the Helldivers 2 Discord, community manager Thomas 'Twinbeard' Petersson said they aren't yet sure what these rule changes meant for players in areas without PSN access, which could be another factor contributing to the negative downturn. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Helldivers 2 Won't Require PSN Account On Steam after all, Sony Confirms - PlayStation has announced that, after about three days of online yelling and reviewing bombing, it will no longer require Helldivers 2 players on PC to link their Steam account to a PlayStation Network account in order to continue accessing the popular sci-fi co-op shooter. On May 2, PlayStation and Arrowhead Games Studios—the developers behind Helldivers 2—announced on Steam that a so-called “grace period” was ending and that all PC players would need a PSN account to keep playing one of 2024's best video games. Technically, this was always the plan as noted on the Helldivers 2 Steam store page. However, due to the game’s messy launch in February, PC players were allowed to play without a PSN account. This led to an awkward situation on Thursday when Sony announced all players would need to have a PlayStation account by June 4 to keep playing. Now, following a massive negative reaction, PlayStation is backtracking. In a tweet at midnight on May 5, PlayStation said it had heard all the “feedback” on linking a Steam and PSN account and decided...nah, never mind. “Helldivers fans — we’ve heard your feedback on the Helldivers 2 account linking update,” announced PlayStation. “The May 6 update, which would have required Steam and PlayStation Network account linking for new players and for current players beginning May 30, will not be moving forward.” PlayStation said it was still “learning what is best for PC players” and suggested all the feedback the company received about the situation had been “invaluable.” “Thanks again for your continued support of Helldivers 2 and we’ll keep you updated on future plans,” concluded PlayStation’s late-night tweet. This reverse on account linking follows a horrible time for Arrowhead’s devs and community managers, who were forced to manage a massive digital war across Twitter, Reddit, and Discord. The CEO of Arrowhead spent most of the weekend apologizing on Twitter and talking to angry fans. Source: Helldivers 2 Won't Require PSN Account On Steam, Sony Confirms - https://lnkd.in/dzB8YM3e

PlayStation Reverses Course on Helldivers 2 PSN Account Requirement: PlayStation has reversed course on the Helldivers 2 PSN account requirement, walking back the unpopular policy after a weekend long backlash that included tens of thousands of negative reviews, some of which spread to Sony's other Steam games. From a report: "Helldivers fans -- we've heard your feedback on the Helldivers 2 account linking update. The May 6 update, which would have required Steam and PlayStation Network account linking for new players and for current players beginning May 30, will not be moving forward," PlayStation wrote on its official account. "We're still learning what is best for PC players and your feedback has been invaluable. Thanks again for your continued support of Helldivers 2 and we'll keep you updated on future plans." PlayStation's decision means that Helldivers 2 players on Steam won't have to link a PSN account in order to play. The unpopular policy, which would have seen new players confronted with a mandatory login beginning this week, resulted in Helldivers 2 being delisted in around 177 countries. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

PlayStation Reverses Course on Helldivers 2 PSN Account Requirement: PlayStation has reversed course on the Helldivers 2 PSN account requirement, walking back the unpopular policy after a weekend long backlash that included tens of thousands of negative reviews, some of which spread to Sony's other Steam games. From a report: "Helldivers fans -- we've heard your feedback on the Helldivers 2 account linking update. The May 6 update, which would have required Steam and PlayStation Network account linking for new players and for current players beginning May 30, will not be moving forward," PlayStation wrote on its official account. "We're still learning what is best for PC players and your feedback has been invaluable. Thanks again for your continued support of Helldivers 2 and we'll keep you updated on future plans." PlayStation's decision means that Helldivers 2 players on Steam won't have to link a PSN account in order to play. The unpopular policy, which would have seen new players confronted with a mandatory login beginning this week, resulted in Helldivers 2 being delisted in around 177 countries. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

PlayStation Reverses Course on Helldivers 2 PSN Account Requirement: PlayStation has reversed course on the Helldivers 2 PSN account requirement, walking back the unpopular policy after a weekend long backlash that included tens of thousands of negative reviews, some of which spread to Sony's other Steam games. From a report: "Helldivers fans -- we've heard your feedback on the Helldivers 2 account linking update. The May 6 update, which would have required Steam and PlayStation Network account linking for new players and for current players beginning May 30, will not be moving forward," PlayStation wrote on its official account. "We're still learning what is best for PC players and your feedback has been invaluable. Thanks again for your continued support of Helldivers 2 and we'll keep you updated on future plans." PlayStation's decision means that Helldivers 2 players on Steam won't have to link a PSN account in order to play. The unpopular policy, which would have seen new players confronted with a mandatory login beginning this week, resulted in Helldivers 2 being delisted in around 177 countries. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

🎮 Millions of Gamers Blocked Out ⛔ What happens when your favorite game suddenly stops working? 😱 🕹️ Sony's PlayStation Network outage hit hard… PS5, PS4, and even older models like PS3 were impacted worldwide! 😮💥 But that’s not all… ❗ Gamers were locked out, unable to access their accounts, play online, or make purchases. Did Sony see this coming? 👀 What was the REAL cause behind this hours-long outage? Is your gaming collection truly yours, or are we just borrowing it? 🤔 ❓Was it a technical glitch, or something much bigger? 🌐 More questions than answers right now… How did it affect YOU? Let’s talk in the comments! 🎤⬇️ https://lnkd.in/gCkU_vtD #PSNOutage #PlayStationNetwork #GamingCrisis #SonyIssues #OnlineGamingDrama Follow us: GigaNectar

Helldivers 2 is an incredibly popular game that was just kicking in out of the park until recently (i.e., a surprise hit). The developers delivered big time. "Sony announced Thursday night that current players of the runaway hit co-op shooter will have to connect their Steam accounts to a PlayStation Network (PSN) account starting on May 30, with a hard deadline of June 4. Officially, this is happening because of the "safety and security provided on PlayStation and PlayStation Studios games." Account linking allows Sony to ban abusive players, and also gives banned players the right to appeal. " "Within one day of its launch, Helldivers 2 was Sony's most successful PC launch, and it wasn't even close. Within two weeks, it passed the all-time concurrent player counts of Starfield, Destiny 2, landing at 18 on the SteamDB charts. It helped that it launched on the same day as the PS5 version, was cheaper than most AAA titles, and arrived with no (uncommonly) egregious performance or crash issues. Whatever the case, it was Sony's seventh highest-grossing game as of May 1. That success hurts the optics of Sony's demand, months after it had an unexpected hit, that players must now register with its far-from-trusted network to keep playing. A non-mega-budgeted game, a trial-balloon sequel, hits big, and Sony, finding its footing in this new realm, doesn't want to leave said opportunity as a one-time Steam purchase." This has led to many gamers asking for refunds and a massive backlash against Sony. Check out the reviews on Steam soon after the announcement. It will be interesting to see how this story unfolds. https://lnkd.in/gR9K8ucQ #helldivers2 #sonygetsitwrong #gaming #ʟiᴠiɴɢᴛʜᴇᴅʀᴇᴀᴍ #mikeduncan #LBFalumni #SkyHighTower🚀

Sony PlayStation is experiencing the complexity and complications of trying to become a crossplay cloud company. Requiring logins is not beyond the pale, but doing it badly is not a way to endear one to gamers. If a company wants to connect games across the cloud then give players incentives not friction. Make it positive. Create value. Players juggle logins but they do it for services they love and need. A login with no benefit is useless. The only current benefit is cross shared trophies. WTF Sony?! ----- VideoGameChronicle: "‘Ouch’: Helldivers 2 dev apologises as it’s hit with over 100,000 negative reviews" VideoGameChronicle: https://lnkd.in/gVZ2QZS8 ----- "Helldivers 2 already ranks 7th in lifetime US dollar sales for Sony published games" VideoGameChronicle: https://lnkd.in/g8-9aBZa ----- IGN: "Sony Is Forcing All Helldivers 2 Steam Players to Connect to a PlayStation Network Account — and It’s Going Down About as Well as You’d Expect. UPDATE: Arrowhead CEO points angry fans to Sony support." "UPDATE: The boss of Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has pointed fans angered by today's account linking news directly at PlayStation Support, suggesting they get in touch with Sony rather than the studio." IGN: https://lnkd.in/gicEmQp9 ----- GameDeveloper: "Helldivers 2 to make Steam/PlayStation account linking mandatory by June." "Making it so Steam players need a PSN account for Helldivers 2 indicates similar requirements for future PC ports. Helldivers 2 will soon require PC players to link their Steam account to the PlayStation Network. On the game's Steam page, developer Arrowhead says new players will have to make a free PSN account (if they don't already have one) and link it starting on Monday, May 6. Current players will have to do so by June 4. When the game launched and became suddenly popular, account linking was made "temporarily optional." Arrowhead and Sony had what it called a "grace period" for Steam users to play it without linking. That time is now over, and Arrowhead said this "plays a critical role in protecting our players" from griefing and abuse." In mid-April, Sony revealed that a new PC overlay was coming with the port of Ghost of Tsushima. Like with Helldivers 2, Steam players will need a PSN account linked to play the co-op Legends mode. Account linking makes it so players share trophy progress between PC and PlayStation consoles, though not cross-progression or cross-save. The new requirement indicates that future PC ports of PlayStation games may ask the same of players. At time of writing, the response from players has been swiftly negative. Per Kotaku writer Ethan Gach, Arrowhead said this was Sony's call, and was looking into how this will work for regions that don't support PSN accounts. Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt encouraged players to send feedback to PlayStation customer support. GameDeveloper: https://lnkd.in/gXXk4WbN #gameindustry #cloud #valve #steam #sony #playstation #helldivers

The Power of Community 🙌 Since Sony announced an unpopular Helldivers 2 and PlayStation linking policy - a policy aimed at safety and security -  the player community has been quite simply, furious. Not only was the policy change sprung on them after they had purchased the game, but many highlighted legitimate concerns over a string of data breaches. 👀 Many asked for a refund as Helldivers 2 was pulled from sale in 177 countries, eventually leading to Sony overturning plans to enforce mandatory PSN linking for Helldivers 2 players on Steam altogether. And the negative callouts worked: Sony soon after announced that it’s no longer requiring Steam players to link a PlayStation Network account. 📣 “Helldivers fans — we’ve heard your feedback” game director and Arrowhead Game Studios CEO Johan Pilestedt stated that he is “impressed by the willpower of the Helldivers 2 community.” This showcases the sheer power of ‘community’, and how the gaming communities in particular have a huge influence on company decisions.⚡️ Tell us what you think below!👇 Read more about the news here: https://bit.ly/4dFvYLS #forgestudios #helldivers2 #sony #gamingcommunitiy #gamers #playstation #playstationlinkingpolicy