HELLDIVERS 2 Account Linking Update

Arrowhead Game Studios writes: "Attention Helldivers, Due to technical issues at the launch of HELLDIVERS 2, we allowed the linking requirements for Steam accounts to a PlayStation Network account to be temporarily optional. That grace period will now expire. See details below in this post. 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."

[dveio]

"protecting our players and upholding the values of safety and security provided on PlayStation and PlayStation Studios games."

So everyone was playing without values and safety? The ... cornerstones of Democracy? 😧

[darthv72]

Arrowhead are looking into ways around the account linking issue that many regions are suffering from.
https://twitter.com/Pileste...

[Sgt_Slaughter]

Oh yes, coming from the only console maker that ended up with an entire breach of data and brought their services down

[badz149]

LOL MS and Nintendo had their fair share of data breaches. and let's get 1 thing straight, the PSN was not brought down by the hackers, Sony brought it offline to prevent further breaches.

[MontyeKristo]

badz149 - it's interesting you think that's any different.

[JackBNimble]

No they only stole millions of user personal, data encrypted or not doesn't matter

[InUrFoxHole]

The good ol deflect by saying it also happened somewhere else...

[Profchaos]

Psn hack was devastating sure I was one of those included in the data breach however that whole incident is what like 15 years old now. I'd hope they have improved their security posture by now.

However I don't agree with the account linking means security summary here

[InUrFoxHole]

I'm dying 🤣.

[darthv72]

It seems pretty harmless... i mean who doesnt have a PSN account now given how popular the PS4 was, and how many play on both PC & console? I get that there are some PC users who may only play on PC but there are other PC games that require certain accounts in order to play. EA Origin, Ubisoft, MS Bethesda...

[Christopher]

There are regions where people have to create PSN accounts in different regions and with different addresses to do this, which is technically against PSN TOS. It's just weird.

I do agree that it has become pretty common, including EA, Ubisoft, and more having similar requirements. But it is still annoying.

[darthv72]

Annoying... yeah I understand that. These are the hoops we jump through in order to be entertained.

[InUrFoxHole]

Chris is spot on. I find this annoying. Not sure how this makes my end user experience any better?

[redknight80]

Not harmless to the players in many countries all over the planet but sure...so long as gamers like you are happy then all good, I guess.

[darthv72]

I addressed that below.

[Zeref]

Most people certainly do NOT have a PSN account lol.

I think people are less mad about the other companirs because it was required up front and not after people already bought the game and now certain regions won't even be able to play the game they already bought because PSN is not available there.

I still think it's blown out of proportion though. This isnt something to review bomb the game over as it's not the developers fault. This is Sony's decision.

[Extermin8or3_]

It was required upfront tech issues meant it was disabled.

[ChasterMies]

“who doesnt have a PSN account now”

Over 7 billion people.

[SimpleDad]

Values and safety??? When was the last time PSN got hacked???
We all know that this is to inflate PSN user numbers.

[Christopher]

It's actually just so they can collect data. They are very happy with PSN numbers.

[Zeref]

This is capitalism sir. Growth is everything.
They are most definitely doing this to inflate PSN numbers to be able to add it to their growth.

[Crows90]

Nah...Sony doesn't have a reason to inflate numbers. You must be thinking of Xbox.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

Oh no, that thing all online game make you do… clearly the game will be unanimously boycotted.

[Yi-Long]

I remember a time, a long long time ago, when you weren't forced to sign up for all kinds of special accounts in order to just play your games online.

[NotoriousWhiz]

I also remember a long long time ago where if you wanted to play online with your friend, you had to host your own server and give your friend the Ip address and port it was running on.

[Eidolon]

If it wasn't for all the problems players were facing, maybe it would just pass, but it's actually a pretty big problem.. you bet your ass it's getting boycotted.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

The amount of time posting a public complaint for this could be better spent just signing up already…

[darthv72]

so i have been reading and I did not know the reach for PSN was currently at 69 countries around the world. Steam access has a far bigger reach and this could be what this situation is about. Areas of the world where the game is available, but PSN is not, could pose an issue for those players. Especially if they are unable to create a PSN account due to lack of coverage.

Sony needs to either expand their reach, or change the requirement to something else that would be in those areas that lack coverage.

[Magatsuhi]

This is honestly a ridiculous claim to be upset about. If it doesn't affect you, then you shouldn't worry about it. Those affected will have a workaround, or they risk refunds, so Sony will have a solution. Stop pretending you are so righteous in caring about those people you most likely don't play with.

[NotoriousWhiz]

^ It's called empathy. Wth.

[Kekewei]

Weird...maybe this problem is unique to Helldivers 2? I live in China, the official Chinese psn game library is a joke , so I have to sign other region psn for my ps5, right now I have 3 region accounts (hk, jp , us), I don't remember having any trouble signing up, all I need is 3 different email addresses...

[jambola]

are you lying about people's reasons?
or too stupid to understand?

only 2 options unless you're a troll

[gigoran8]

Because no other popular games makes you have an additional account to play it

/s

[Amplitude]

Most don't. I can legitemately say I don't have a single game that makes me have a second account on PC to play. It's Blizzard games, Epic games and free to play bs - that's it (and they have their own storefronts). Taking a game you spent money for and making it unplayable unless you fork over your personal details and ad info to a multi billion dollar corpo is god damn gross

Id Return Helldivers over this if I could. I'm not signing into PSN on PC just like I'm not installing the Epic Games Store on my PC.

[NotoriousWhiz]

Weird hill to die on.

[jambola]

and every country has murder
guess that makes it ok

[repsahj]

arrowhead already included this on steam from the start. They just disabled it because of connection issues.

[Inverno]

It didn't require it at launch, crossplay worked just fine, which means there's absolutely no need for it. Besides the fact that many players will now be locked out due to their country not having access to PSN, it's just an extra hoop to jump through when you've already legitimately purchased a game. It might be common, doesn't make it any less bs. Remember when y'all lost your minds over Minecraft/MS acct linking? Or maybe GROUNDED is recent enough for y'all to remember how outrage y'all felt lol

[derek]

It's Sony's game, why should crummy pc players get to dictate the terms on how the game is played. You don't want to sign in to a free psn account to play it then don't.

[Christopher]

Okay, sure. But then the PC version shouldn't be sold in regions where people can't 'legally' sign up for a PSN account to meet that requirement.

[derek]

@Christopher are you in such a country? Many pc players in these countries have to sign in using fake foreign accounts anyways for other platforms they know how to get around this issue. There is this constant phony outrage machine that gets spun up for any Sony story.

[Inverno]

Singing into an acct in a region that they are not in puts them at risk of being banned from the game all together. It's not fake outrage, it's people simply not wanting to go through extra hoops AFTER the fact. Its a SONY property but the game belongs to the people that bought it, taking it away unless you agree to some bs arbitrary terms after the fact is theft.

[Doge]

Your victim complex is showing.

[Christopher]

@derek: That latest reply from you feels like you're just struggling to make this less of a problem rather than actually using facts to support you random claims on why this is okay.

[derek]

@Christopher nope, lol. This is just another nontroversy just like the fake stellar blade outrage. Feel free to be upset with all the other phonies in the comment section. Getting worked up over having to sign to play a video game, lol.

[derek]

Another nontroversy.

[darthv72]

Tell that to those who live in the 80 countries (out of 150) that do not have access to a legit PSN account. In case you cant figure math... PSN is available in 70 countries, Steam is in 150.

Now you and I, we dont have this problem. But that is still a pretty big problem that Sony didnt quite think through. I expect them to come up with some sort of workaround, likely allow for nearest neighbor.

Dont just brush it off because it doesnt affect you.

[derek]

@darth, Sony shouldn't do anything save for the very few who may have legit problems creating a ps account in a jurisdiction that doesn't have it. I doubt that's even a problem for 99% of players. For the rest of pc players it should be mandatory, it's a playstation game they're entitled to require an account be logged into. Gamers need to grow up and stop with the phony childish outrage campaigns. Proves that pc gamers are just as childish to.

[repsahj]

I know, right? This is already on the Steam page from the start when buying Helldivers 2 that you need a PSN account. 

If linking accounts is already implemented from the start without any connectivity issues, I'm sure no whining or complaining will ever happen.

You will bought the game because it is great not because of this simple account linking step.

[Doomeduk]

Didn't a certain pirate themed game by MS only this week release needing a Microsoft account to play on playstation?
Just go with the headline PSN not available in Gaza and I can get me pitchfork out eh ?

[derek]

@Doomeduk yep, you had articles on here about how brilliant of a move it is by Microsoft as if it somehow forces playstation players to become xbox gamers.

[darthv72]

seriously... dont be a jerk. Its not that people dont want to create accounts... its that many CANT create accounts. As for MS, their account creation services are available in 190 countries. Steam in 150 and PSN in 70.

Now do you get the picture?

[derek]

@darthv72, grow-up, name calling? Lol. Glad you're thinking about all the poor gamers worldwide who can't create a psn account. I guess you're against all companies requiring gamers to register for an account for any game, right? Somehow I don't think so. Nontroversy.

[isarai]

Why require it? Like optional for trophies or whatever but required? Lame af bruh

[Christopher]

Because user data.

[isarai]

You can get analytics without this, literally every game out there does.

[SimpleDad]

Perfect recipe how to ruin a game. Check out Steam reviews. User data my ass.

[Christopher]

***You can get analytics without this, literally every game out there does. ***

Analytics is taking data and analyzing it, so saying that isn't quite helping your argument since the question is the type of data being collected. You're attempting to compare how people play to what I'm talking about which is more about what the user does when logged in with their PSN account. From not only playing the game but their actions while logged in, how they interact with the UI, what other apps they use while playing, do they watch videos, etc. It's way more than just what's happening in the game.

[Hedstrom]

The same as MS accounts, EA accounts, Blizzard accounts and so on. But i dont really get the reason why?

[BlindMango]

Anytime there is official announcement where the title includes the word "Update", you know it's bad news

[Skuletor]

Someone wants to get review bombed

[SimpleDad]

130k negative reviews on Steam. Sony must be proud.

[Skuletor]

I doubt they'll reverse the "update" but at the very least, they should refund everyone in countries that don't have PSN available and explain why the game wasn't region-locked for them, in the first place

[Kekewei]

Sony should have launched psn on pc when they released their first pc game, their move towards pc is clumsy and rushed.

[Kekewei]

This is a good move in the long run, I can now add my PC friends by psn instead of some random usercode generated by each game...it will strengthen the interaction between ps and pc gamers. The only thing to blame is that sony should push for it before the game is released. As I said before their pc management is always clumsy..

[jambola]

I love it
a game praised by the community, often even used as a positive example
even they have to be shitty and ruin it lol