So far the month of May has been a hard-fought battle against Sony. After not enforcing the mandatory PSN account rule to play Helldivers 2, the corporation sent out a post stating it would be required for all Steam players by the end of the month. For some, this was no big deal. For others, this meant that they would never be able to play the game again since a PSN account can’t be made in many countries.
The announcement of the mandatory PSN account rule was met with a storm of backlash from various players. Many vowed they would not play Helldivers 2 until the decision was reversed, others got a refund for the game, and thousands even review-bombed the Steam page. After all of this and talks with Arrowhead, Sony decided it would be best to not move forward with the rule.
Today, Sony posted on the official PlayStation X account stating, “We’ve heard your feedback on the Helldivers 2 account linking update. The May 6 update, which would have required Steam and PlayStation Network account linking for new players and for currency players beginning May 30, will not be moving forward.” This is a huge win for those in countries where PlayStation accounts cannot be made and shows that when the community works together there is nothing they can’t accomplish.
Many celebrated the decision in the comments section of the post. While plenty thanked Sony for changing its mind, some game reminders by saying, “I hope this is a lesson to everyone, we have power as consumers. The corpos are beholden to us, not us to them.” There will be plenty more battles to be fought as Helldivers 2 continues to be a beacon of democracy for many players around the world. Congrats on your victory everyone. It was a hard-fought battle.
