What's the Deal with the Helldivers 2 PSN Account Requirement?

On May 3, 2024, Arrowhead Game Studio, the developers of Helldivers 2, announced that all players of the popular co-op game would be required to link their Steam accounts to a PlayStation Network (PSN) account. 

This decision has sparked outrage within the Helldivers 2 community, with many players threatening to boycott the game over this controversial move.

Why Require PSN Accounts for a Steam Game?

According to the official announcement, the PSN account linking is necessary for several reasons:

1. To protect players from harassment and griefing by enabling account bans.
2. To provide banned players with the ability to appeal their bans.
3. To facilitate cross-platform play between different gaming platforms.

While the developers argue that this step is crucial for maintaining a safe and fair gaming environment, many players are not convinced.

What are the Players' Concerns?

The Helldivers 2 community has raised several concerns regarding the PSN account linking requirement:

• Privacy and Security Concerns: Some players are wary of linking their Steam accounts to PSN due to perceived security risks associated with Sony accounts, citing concerns about potential breaches and compromised personal information.
• Regional Restrictions: PSN is region-locked, which means players from certain countries (120+) where PSN is unavailable will be unable to play Helldivers 2. Whereas Steam is available in every country.
• Unnecessary Account Proliferation: Many gamers are frustrated with the growing trend of requiring multiple accounts and launchers for a single game, viewing it as an unnecessary inconvenience.

Boycott Helldivers 2 Started

Ever since the announcement fans took to social media and vowed to boycott the game if the PSN account linking requirement is not reconsidered. 

Here is how fans react: 

17,500 PC players gave negative reviews for Helldivers 2 on Steam due to the requirement to link a PlayStation account, “which is very easy and takes less than two minutes to create.” pic.twitter.com/usjEkRe0Kv

— 🅾️🔺️◻✖ (@0AOXO) May 4, 2024

We *chose* to play on PS5. PC players didn't.#Helldivers2 pic.twitter.com/O9irv4cNbB

— Helldivers 2 Media (@Helldiversmedia) May 4, 2024

I'm doing my part!#Helldivers2
📹idiot-thrasher pic.twitter.com/Y3XkckcgKJ

— Helldivers Alerts (@HelldiversAlert) May 4, 2024

The Helldivers 2 situation in a nutshell. #Helldivers2 #PSN #Sony #YouRuinedIt pic.twitter.com/Wa1sW1z08z

— Exemplar Kyle (@ExemplarKyle) May 4, 2024

Arrowhead studios talking to sony after implementing psn on the only live service game they made work#helldivers2 pic.twitter.com/jf0ieiJMYv

— Reaver (@reaver_T) May 3, 2024

#Helldivers2 is probably the worst community @Sony could've pulled this with, we've been trained to fight fascism for the last three months. pic.twitter.com/ikOWzhFlHD

— Gruff Donaar 🌌 BOUNTY HUNTER VTUBER (@gruffdonaar) May 4, 2024

With all this Helldivers 2 controversy, I'm stopping by to remind that popular pressure works; when we come together, we have power, here and anywhere else. A bad decision is only taken seriously when it hurts the pockets of greedy shareholders. Fuck you Sony.#Helldivers2 pic.twitter.com/cbwLunmcma

— Jub (@Juboz0) May 4, 2024

Reviews for #Helldivers2 on steam are now overall MIXED with a recently score of MOSTLY NEGATIVE.

Before this happened the game had only a couple hundred thousand reviews. This is depressing. pic.twitter.com/AqNpzrJdkz

— Momma Occo🐙 JuniperEN (@MommaOcco) May 4, 2024

Sooo. . . . Turns out that pissing off a community that will work together to knock over a 7 day order in 12 hours was a real bad idea. #Helldivers2 pic.twitter.com/TZ9SLYHdO9

— Magz (@MagzGTV) May 4, 2024

Updated News on May 7th: 

PlayStation has announced the cancellation of the planned PSN account linking update for 'HELLDIVERS 2'.

"To the fans of Helldivers – we have listened to your feedback regarding the Helldivers 2 account linking update," Sony stated in a tweet.

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.

We’re still…

— PlayStation (@PlayStation) May 6, 2024