Sony reverses unpopular Helldivers 2 decision after violent backlash from players

Stand back, Helldivers. Your battle is won. Late last week, Sony announced that Helldivers 2, one of the most popular multiplayer games of the year, would require Steam players to link their accounts to a PlayStation Network account. After a weekend of strong backlash from gamers, including criticism of the game on Steam, Sony reversed course earlier this morning and will no longer require PC gamers to link to a PSN account.

The strength of the player’s reaction cannot be underestimated. Within hours of the initial announcement, Helldivers 2 received over 14,000 negative reviews on Steam. That number grew to over 200,000 negative reviews over the next two days, enough to flip the game’s “extremely positive” rating to “extremely negative.” While review bombing is typically seen as an extreme action that players can take, it was apparently encouraged by one of Helldivers 2community managers.

“I want people to show their discontent in a place where it can really make a difference,” Spitz, a Helldivers 2 community manager, wrote on the game’s Discord server. “Steam reviews and refund requests will do this.”

But the players were not content to go after Helldivers 2. Arrowhead Game Studios CEO Johan Pilestedt expressed dismay that players were also targeting the original Helldivers. “It saddens me deeply that @HelldiversGame is also being bombarded due to the recent @helldivers2 controversy,” he wrote in X.

The review bombing created a knock-on effect for the game’s presence on Steam. As the news spread, gamers and others pointed out that the PlayStation Network was not available in certain countries, meaning the requirement would cause players in those countries to lose access to a game they paid for. Steam tracker website Steamdb reported that the game was delisted in 177 countries where PSN was not available, and there were reports from players that Steam was issue refunds to players beyond the typical refund window. Then, on Monday morning, Sony announced that it would rescind the PSN linking requirement.

On social media, players questioned how all this happened. While PSN account linking had always been planned for the game and indicated on its Steam page, Pilestedt wrote that the unstable condition of the game’s release forced them to delay implementation of the requirement. He also stated that there had apparently been internal discussions with PlayStation that the requirement would anger fans.

“When servers exploded at launch, quick decisions had to be made, such as turning off tethering,” Pilestedt wrote on X“And now, finally, the demand for reactivation came from the PS [PlayStation] (to help with moderation) – and we had to comply, even though there were concerns there would be backlash.”

Now that the decision has been reversed, Pilestedt expressed appreciation to fans and thanked PlayStation for quickly resolving the issue. The game has been restored in the countries where it was previously removed and it appears that players are changing their negative reviews, with Helldivers 2 now with a “mixed” rating as the number of positive reviews slowly increases. Pilestedt even poked fun at the entire event, sharing a graphic from a community member who turned the game’s negative review graphic on Steam into a design for the skins players wear in the game.