Helldivers 2 PC players who live in regions without access to the PlayStation Network will still be able to play the game, even after the account linking mandate comes into effect, according to one developer.
Publisher Sony recently announced that Helldivers 2 players on Steam would soon need to link their games to an active PSN account, or otherwise lose the ability to play the smash-hit co-op shooter. Thousands of players have since left negative reviews on Helldivers 2's store page in response, citing data concerns and the somewhat hidden "grace period" as reasons.
The even more pressing concern came from the fact that the PlayStation Network is not available in every territory that Steam is - meaning that some global players won't be able to comply with Sony's account linking requirements.
Arrowhead Studios community manager Spitz has now shed more light on the situation in a Discord message and clarified that "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." Essentially, the studio won't "force people to either break Sony TOS or not play the game."
Arrowhead developers previously reminded players that the mandate was "Sony's decision, not ours" - and it seems like other staff members were also just as irked as players. "The response from our dev teams has been pretty universally negative and we're looking for better options," the community manager continues. That's in line with the studio boss' reaction, who said the backlash was "warranted."
