Since the launch of Helldivers 2 earlier this year, Arrowhead Games Studios has gone from stride to stride with success. With consistently great post-launch content and a passionate community to fall back on, all seemed well in Helldivers land. Now, among a recent decision to make PSN accounts mandatory for all players on other platforms, Arrowhead’s Johan Pilestedt responds to player concerns.
In the upcoming May 6 patch for Arrowhead’s popular co-op game, a mandatory PSN account requirement was rolled out for Helldivers 2 players diving in on Steam. As PSN’s jurisdiction doesn’t cover every region for some players, this means that a large portion of the multiplayer game’s playerbase could face bans on their account. As a result, negative reviews have absolutely annihilated the game’s reputation.
Following this, Pilestedt explains that “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.” While Pilestedt’s intentions were meant to ease the frustrations of players, the situation has only worsened for one of the best PS5 multiplayer games around. According to SteamDB, the game is no longer for sale in 177 countries where PSN currently isn’t available.
A resolution is yet to be determined between Arrowhead and Sony regarding this obstacle for Helldivers 2, but Pilestedt assures players that discussions are underway. In a follow-up post about the situation, he says that “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 say.”
It appears that the situation was inevitable, too. Before players would enjoy content like the recent Polar Patriots Warbond or see the game poke fun at Escape From Tarkov, Pilestedt clarifies in a separate post that Arrowhead “knew for about 6 months before launch that it would be mandatory for online PS titles.” Among Arrowhead and Sony’s wave of disgruntled calls from players, Sucker Punch Productions has clarified that another one of the best PS5 games, Ghost of Tsushima, will only require an account for the game’s multiplayer mode in the PC port.
“Just so you are aware, A PSN account is required for Legends online multiplayer mode and to use PlayStation overlay. It is not required to play the single-player game,” the developer says.
Until a solution is ironed out by Sony for Helldivers 2, you might be eager to play some other multiplayer titles in the meantime.
You can head over to Embark’s awesome FPS game The Finals to claim this limited-time rewards, or drop into Fortnite to enjoy its huge offering of brand-new Star Wars content.