Following the recent change to the game requiring players to link a PlayStation account in order to play, the Helldivers 2 PSN controversy has received a deeper response from the devs. After apologizing for some insensitive comments, Arrowhead’s confirmed they’re on the same side as the players and are trying to work with Sony to get the requirement changed.
When players first began complaining about the change in the game’s official Discord server, Community Manager Spitz responded with comments that many found to be snarky. These comments have since been removed from the Discord but are still available to view in a tweet from Helldivers 2 Media:
Community Manager's position about the new controversy pic.twitter.com/mrIQxkFKRr
— Helldivers 2 Media (@Helldiversmedia) May 3, 2024
“It’s not like this is the first or even the fourteenth mainstream game to require a third-party account that takes a couple minutes to create, but if it’s a dealbreaker to have to take 120 seconds out of your day to enter an email and password and then forget about it, change your Steam review and make your displeasure known on a platform where it matters.”
Since then, Spitz has apologized for their response and emphasized Arrowhead’s sympathy for players, stating that the team is highly displeased with the changes as well. You can see the responses summarized in a post from Navar4477 on the Helldivers subreddit:
The CM, or Spitz, had the following to say regarding the recent account changes:
“Internal discussions are ongoing about the mandatory linking change and while I can’t reveal details, the response from our dev teams has been pretty universally negative and we’re looking for better options.
If a better solution isn’t provided for players who are in regions without PSN coverage, I’m assured that we won’t be making the requirement mandatory for those players. We’re not going to force people to either break Sony terms of service (TOS) or not play the game. That change, the Steam announcement, and the FAQ are all coming from Sony and not our team at Arrowhead.
Players making their displeasure known through reviews, refunds, etc. gives us more pull in the discussions with Sony. They don’t read our Discord. It hurts to see the game’s popularity suffer in ratings, but discussions are ongoing and our team is on the side of the players in this fight. It’s unrealistic to expect people to make PSN accounts in different regions to get past the account linking requirement. We’re aware of that. Discussions are ongoing.”
Spritz also apologized for the inflammatory statements they made yesterday in response to the initial outrage which criticized players for complaining about a fairly easy account creation process:
“Yeah, I was completely unaware how many countries didn’t have the ability to make a PSN account when I made that statement. I deeply regret implying that it was so easy for everyone to just sign up and not have to worry about it. It’s absolutely not our intention to force people to break Sony TOS or just not play the game if they’re in a restricted region. There needs to be a better solution.”
Helldivers 2’s been very well-received and has had record-breaking player counts for Sony on PC in couple of months since launch. It’s a bummer to see the game get hammered down so suddenly, but it’s entirely fair for players to be upset about the new requirements, especially those in countries where they literally have no choice. Hopefully, Sony listens and makes necessary changes in the next couple of days.