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As Helldivers 2 endures thousands of negative Steam user reviews prompted by mandatory PlayStation Network account linking, community managers from developer Arrowhead have been rushing around handing out context and clarification to disgruntled players. A key point comes from community manager Twinbeard on Discord: "It's Sony's decision, not ours."
One user asked the devs what they're supposed to do about Helldivers 2 "forcing" this account link since they live in a country where PSN isn't available and even a VPN may not guarantee a workaround, pointedly concluding, "you just single handily [sic] kill your own game."
Twinbeard responded, "First of all, it's Sony's decision, not ours. Secondly, we don't have all the details about region related issues yet. We're chasing Sony to get more info."
Another user asked how to get feedback directly to Sony, and Twinbeard advised they "tell them yourself" using PlayStation's support contact. That's not some snippy remark, either; Twinbeard confirmed "it's actually an approved support link we're told to use."
Community manager Baskinator sounded similarly weary in a response to a user who complained about the "optics" of account linking. "Well, we always knew this day would get here, and it's going about how I expected," she wrote. "I'm actually happy for us to be able to take action against player reports and make the game safer across the board, personally."
In follow-up responses, Baskinator notes that "Sony has a dedicated team, a ban appeal process, and tools to take action on player reports, and it's all connected to having a PSN ID." She also echoed Twinbeard's comment, reiterating that "it's Sony's IP, so it makes sense they'd want to use the tools they've developed for these things."
As community managers who are now actively managing a suddenly unhappy community, Baskinator says "we're doing everything we can," including "compiling a sentiment report over the response now, and everyone's feedback is being noted."
"We do our best to communicate what you think back to our stakeholders," she adds in another Discord reply, noting that "we're not, like, powerful people" driving these decisions.
As community manager Spitz affirmed in multiple replies, this news isn't technically news: Helldivers 2 "has said a PSN account is required since literally before the game was purchasable." This was only disabled at launch due to technical issues, and per Baskinator, it's been a long time coming. Sony clearly hasn't changed its mind in that time, so now it's here, and here we are.
This PSN mess has clearly created some headache for Arrowhead, as well as PC gamers – the bigger part of Helldivers 2's audience – who are understandably annoyed to suddenly be tethered to a platform they may not touch and, in some regions, may not even have direct access to. And even if it is just a minor annoyance for many, you've got to wonder if it's worth the blowback as Sony expands its PC gaming plans. Sony can preach about account security all it wants, but after months of industry-dominating success from Helldivers 2, which built a famously positive community with no shortage of goodwill, the whole thing absolutely screams "easily avoided own-goal."
