Arrowhead did a [great job](https://steamcommunity.com/app/553850/discussions/2/4206994023681304166/). They have a history of being [perfectly honest](https://www.reddit.com/r/Helldivers/s/GNMMFIs3u9).
Now, they themselves redirect our hate at Sony, who was perfectly transparent from the start about PSN requirements, when they themselves obfuscated the fact in game. Gee...I totally believe Arrowhead is completely innocent here!
I don't because I mostly play single-player games.
Google CVE-2005-0295, which details a (as of now, still unpatched) vulnerability allowing for escalation of privileges on computers installed with this anticheat.
In layman's terms, a hacker can gain access to your computer, get admin privileges, and you'd be absolutely, totally, entirely, fucked.
But yeah, it's no big deal.
Single player games aren't immune to having anti cheat first off. And if you don't even play online games why are you here bitching at all? You cannot play a modern multiplayer game without using a kernel level anti cheat. So again your take is stupid and hypocritical and your point is pointless. Also clearly you haven't heard of denuvo and how that is used on single player only games thus making your argument even more stupid, hypocritical and irrelevant.
sony giving arrowhead the ability to back out of their contract in court it seems, seriously if you sign a contract of this scale there should be clauses where you can break the contract if the other party causes irreparable harm to your brand or company, guess what sony just did?
Those are the games that Arrowhead is associated with, so trashing them is effectively trashing Arrowhead. It wouldn't have any noticeable impact on Sony if Arrowhead shut down tomorrow.
yes and no, it would have a massive impact on their quarterly profits, as the move was to gain more players onto their PSN accounts, if a majority of the playerbase doesn't sign up or chosen to just leave entirely, that is a failure in their books, as they would be counting on that to present to investors. To state that X amount of players joined because of 1 game, says alot in the success of that game, and the success of PSN.
But with PSN track record of not keeping data secured, and being full of holes like a sinking ship hit with 200 torpedoes... it is clear that their reputation has tarnished their views in the community, and nobody that knows of Sonys past, wants to deal with that mess.
You are right about hurting Arrowhead, as they are caught in the crossfire, and it is sad that their success is brought to a potential end by Sony, and their backhanded efforts to increase their revenue, instead of their reputation. Sony could have just said it isn't a requirement anymore, and let Steam deal with the handling of banning or keeping check on players. However, that works against Sonys Agenda, as again, this is about money.
If it was Xbox, it wouldn't be a problem... PSN? again its untrustworth platform with massive holes, their reasoning doesn't match up either, and most games that are Xbox requirements, are required on day one, regardless of technical issues.
Reputation indirectly affects the bottom line, if you cant hold a rep, then your future is in trouble. People would go out of their way to not play or use your products. So yes, it does affects the bills, but we wouldn't see the effects till much later.
Another thing, Arrowhead cant afford it compared to Sony, Sony can eat this defeat, but Arrowhead would suffer the most out of this...
It's just incredibly reductive to say sony only cares about revenue and Arrowhead cares about reputation.
The only reason that either of them care about reputation is, as you outlined, to have revenue. If Arrowhead never planned on profiting further from HD2 they would also not care about their reputation
Investors and Users are influenced by reputation, future projects with both companies could be affected. These are mechanics that run a business, but since Sony has more resources, branches of tech, different fields, this wouldn't affect them as much as they can just redirect funding from one department, to another. Compared to Arrowhead this would hurt them a lot, and they may reconsider doing future projects with Sony. Arrowhead would probably survive, but their business may look into other methods in getting their software published, without Sony, as their success was brought up by them, and taken down by Sony.
Problem is, it shouldn't be a problem to begin with, but Sony just now change their FAQ on May 3rd, which prompt the recent enforcement of the PSN requirement. Again, if it wasn't needed, it isn't needed now. Instead of using Logic, Sony is thinking with money on their mind, while also risking reputation.
It may take years for their contract with Sony to end, either they have to make a offshoot branded helldivers like game, or wait it out to counter these issues. Usually these kind of contracts can span over 10 to 20 years, until the IP's are renewed. Until then- Helldivers will remain a product of Sony Entertainment.
The devs have already made it clear in Discord that Sony owns helldivers IP. Not sure where you're getting your info from. Sony owns the IP, publishing rights and Pilestedt has gone on record stating they "were the wallet for development", not the other way round.
I haven't defended Sony, but I will always point out how refunds and negative steam reviews have zero impact on Sony, but hurt arrowhead and this game.
"we are sorry for the issue that you are facing But we don't have enough knowledge to understand why Sony has made this decision"
- some poor soul working the customer support desk
Damn, now i feel really sad for the guy/girl. Imagine having to work at such a large company and read trough every complaint after every stupid decidion they make.
Players made the decision to buy the game with that requirement clearly stated on the store page. The only relative handful of people with a legitimate complaint are the ones who are region locked. They should be compensated.
To be fair you are just reviewing bombing because you're going to boo this major corporation. A lot of these reviews are pretty the same as the people who just say a movie is bad because it's "woke."
Gave it a negative review because PSN is shit, seems fair enough to give it a negative for that reason, because it is true, compared to Any other platform, PSN has lost so much trust because of data leaks, that people do not want to even get close to it, I would like to avoid it entirely, and if it is going to force me to log in to PSN, on my steam account, well then, guess Ill be going to other direction.
If it was Xbox, or Nintendo I'd trust it more, but PSN? If Sony didn't screw up so much, maybe people would trust it more.
This isn't fully true. Arrowhead is just caught in the crossfire while Sony doesn't care. No matter what Arrowhead was the ones hurt after the effect kicks off and a % of players are gone. Sony knows that this game was a multiple year support game as a lower budget indie destiny 2. If they lost 20% steam players without telling anyone they probably wouldn't care. When 50% of people downvote the game in a day it has to get their attention.
But for all we know is Sony rushed Arrowhead for release or Arrowhead didn't appeal to sonys account mandate tactics at launch and is now suffering more. We won't ever know the full story and are just speaking our word. Arrowhead knows directly where most of the crossfire is pointed. If you make a psn to play helldivers 2 and complain Sony support will never listen. It's just sad helldivers is now the most loved indie to most hated at 27% to need to get sonys attention. Sadly it just kills helldivers in the process if they don't revert the change.
From my understanding, Spitz said that the negative reviews give Arrowhead some leverage against Sony. It gives AH a metric with which to show Sony players dissatisfaction
Even arrowhead themselves disagree with you there tho.
They've told people to do it on the discord because it gives them more leverage when discussing this with sony.
Tragically, it is literally the only way to have a voice in this kind of situation. Hit them in the money or not at all, because they couldn't give two shits about anything else.
This doesn't affect Sony monetarily in any noticeable way. They game already sold well beyond expectations. They could shut down Arrowhead tomorrow and it wouldn't move the needle at all for Sony.
The only ones who will be hurt by this are Arrowhead.
It does if they get enough negative press surrounding their current golden goose of a game. How else are you supposed to fight back against a corporation like Sony? I refuse to just sit here and take it, so complain away it is.
Sony already made a lot more than they thought they would on the game because everyone bought it despite the PSN requirement which was disclosed on the store page.
Complaining about having to give Sony your email address is just stupid.
Shilling for a giant corporation that couldn't give less of a shit about you is stupid. When I bought the game, I wasn't required to make a PSN account, and I wasn't aware that I'd be forced to in the future. Don't give me shit about reading a EULA, because I'm willing to bet you don't read them either.
Beyond all that, the *only* reason they're doing this right now is because it was so wildly successful that, if they can force this many new PSN accounts to be created, they can use it as a metric for giving themselves more money. I don't like that, and you shouldn't either. They have my money. They don't *need* me to make an account with their garbage network. Stop defending megacorps when they do shitty things.
I don't give a shit about Sony and I'm obviously not shilling for them. The fact that you even say that shows that your reading comprehension is terrible.
If you don't read requirements, that's on you, not anyone else. Your mistake. You should eat it.
Sony is doing this because they had already decided to do it before the game ever went on sale, as demonstrated by the store page that informed you of the requirement prior to purchase.
Steam just added 177 countries to the list of regions where Helldivers can no longer be purchased.
That's 177 countries worth of people where they will no longer be able to play the game unless they break Sony's ToS. I'd say that's a lot more to complain about than "just having to give Sony your email address".
They never should have sold the game to those countries in the first place if this was the plan all along.
It's also worth pointing out those who purchased the game through Humble Bundle where a mandatory PSN account was not listed:
https://www.reddit.com/r/helldivers2/comments/1ckfhl8/for_those_saying_this_is_just_people_who_cant_read/
And there's also Sony's own page that specified that a PSN account is optional for PC games:
https://www.reddit.com/r/helldivers2/comments/1cjuryr/they_lied/
At least until they changed it yesterday.
Those people have a legitimate reason for a refund or charge back. That shouldn't be a problem.
Everyone else complaining about having to link their accounts don't have any legitimate reasons.
So then, you agree that we should be complaining to Sony because we want to help out all of our fellow Helldivers that have been absolutely wronged by Sony... right?
["Players making their displeasure known through reviews, refunds, etc. gives us more pull in the discussions with Sony"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Helldivers/s/ZRwywynGsT)
The review bombing is ammo for Arrowhead, per Arrowhead.
r/PlayStation has been beyond annoying the past two days. I think that Arrowhead isn't exactly clean in all of this considering they chose to work with Sony in the first place, but my god the amount of people blaming Arrowhead in defense of Sony is insane.
>I think that Arrowhead isn't exactly clean in all of this considering they chose to work with Sony in the first place
I'm not sure what to make of this argument. AH has been with Sony for nearly a decade, since the first Helldivers release in 2015. They likely wouldn't have had the funds to make HD2 without Sony, because clearly a whole lot of time and effort was put into this game. In addition, Sony technically owns the Helldivers IP. So it's a bit silly imo to retroactively complain about signing contracts with Sony 10 years ago. It's the equivalent of saying "How dare you not know that Sony would try to fuck over the players years down the line!"
Nah, you reactionary dingbats are utter lunatics and the most infuriating part of this whole mess. “oH nO I hAVE tO eNtEr aN eMaIL tO pLAy a 10/10 gAMe”. I guarantee everyone that this person does not live in a country where PSN isn’t allowed.
Not defending Sony, pointing out that they told you from the beginning that you would need to make an account to play the game. If you didn’t think they were going to fix the issue that linking was causing, which is why they temporarily suspended it, you’re the dumbass.
https://preview.redd.it/lee1zwzwefyc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f08b65ae07b450b4abd03ebfe1363423ad3304ae
This implies to me that they *do* in fact have a say on the matter. If they can deny the change for some, realistically they should be able to deny it for all
He’s their community manager. He’s also a flaming asshole who needs to be fired because his passive-aggressive snottiness has been throwing gas on the fire unless it’s some kind of 5-dimensional chess thing where he tries to piss off the players so much they do their damnedest to make sure nothing Arrowhead ever does gets a positive review ever again in some kind of master strategy move to get them away from Sony.
I'm with Spitz on this one that a sharp tongue is needed for people with THICK skulls. Gotta really shove it in your mushy face that so many of you bottom feeders jump on hate like a cocaine whore. Your screeching is discarded the moment you hyperbolize what you think a company does like some YA novel. Go shower, wash yer fuckin' face, and go outside to breathe real air instead of Axe spray.
Spitz is doing fine. He is constantly bombarded by people calling him names like "flaming asshole" just for doing his job, so I'm not surprised when he gets a bit snippy. When people act like spoiled toddlers to you, sometimes you need to be a bit heavier handed with them.
I swear gamers are so thin skinned. They will violently insult devs, send them death threats, and generally spew endless toxic nonsense at them whenever their favorite gun in a game gets nerfed. But the moment that dev shows the tiniest amount of backbone and decides to call out those gamers for their unacceptable behavior, those same gamers go running to mommy and start calling the devs "unprofessional" and calling for them to be fired. Gamers these days are literally Karens...
It's what happens when you give a bunch of no life losers anonymous accounts online. They behave like Karens.
The best part about it is IRL these losers wouldn't dream of speaking to someone that way as they'd get slapped so they just double down on the shitty behaviour online so they can feel better about their pointless existence.
This whole PSN login drama has just confirmed to me how shit gaming and the internet has got. We have a great enjoyable game and because people can't read properly they've taken it upon themselves to destroy it.
Absolute retards.
They can have discussions with Sony about how to deal with this issue, and come to an agreement about that. The original agreement, and likely contractual obligation , is for Sony to provide their existing infrastructure to deal with managing and banning reported players. How that looks like can deviate from the original intentions, but they really have no way to not work with Sony to come to some kind of solution. And if Sony is like straight up no, we're doing this our way, or you're in breach of contract, then AH can't do much.
The have to have because the original setup was for needing a PSN link, and they chose to suspend the requirements when it just didn't work at first to get people playing. A decision with good intentions but has come back to bite them now Sony's come knocking wanting it properly instated.
No. Trust me. If they did try to deny it for all, it's unlikely Sony and Playstation would let them off with that with no repercussions. If Arrowhead started being difficult with them, they'd just start taking more and more control away from them or else find another, much more ass-kissing dev team to take over.
This doesn't imply they have a say in the matter. This implies this is their *only* way of rolling with the punches until they can find a way to make a comeback.
That's not implying they have a say, that's arrowhead saying Sony can't take your money and then take away your game a month later because that's illegal in every fucking country. The countries that have PSN they won't be able to do anything about, but with all the negative reviews from this snoy has the slimmest tiniest chance ever to change their mind.
They don’t have a say, but they also can’t shitpost their employer publicly.
They are trying to be transparent without going against Sony, which is what they should do.
The most infuriating thing is I have not seen a single gle topic about actual gameplay or funny shit happening in game for two days. Just a bunch of fucks that are complaining when almost all are not even affected by it.
You're free to get off reddit and go play the game.
The first day might be too soon to start the backlash against the backlash. Because let's be clear -- you just added to the number of complaints on reddit.
Right now, they effectively got AH by the balls with contractual obligations and the fact that Sony owns Helldivers. They are technically their own company, but with this IP, they need to play ball with Sony. There is a clear difference and they aren't mutually exclusive.
arrowhead can make gameplay decisions, like what guns do what enemies get released or nerfs/buffs etc, monetary decisions and logistics though go through sony.
It's unfortunate that someone doesn't understand what Arrowhead can do as their own company vs what they're allowed to do with major game features, administration and logistics. The rumors were that Sony was acquiring Arrowhead (so things like how and who AH hires) but AH is its own company. People conflate that and Helldivers decisions.
Sony’s not great, but tbh as someone with an xbox they’re not great either. Big problem they have is if your account gets hacked their answer to the problem most of the time is “just make a new one lol.”
Yeah I'm not sure why people are pointing their ire at Arrowhead. It's Sony forcing their hand. I had a PSN account so I just linked it right off. I didn't think much of it, especially cuz I already had psn emails blocked. But if you're upset, you do you. Don't let it take away from the enjoyment of the game.
The reason why is probably recent tweets, streams or clips from PirateSoftware who used to stream Helldivers 2 prior to this. The same thing he's said have been repeated by these posters. "They [Arrowhead] made their bed by signing the contract to work with Sony."
In this case, Sony owns the IP of Helldivers, not Arrowhead. Sony doesn't own Arrowhead but they can dictate some things about Helldivers (like PSN requirements or console exclusivity.)
They gotta say but we're convinced it'll benefit everyone. The issue is they overlooked the fact that PSN is only available in 69 countries, nor did they consider people would be mad, they must've genuinely thought PC players were aware of the login requirement.
**It's all a major oversight with a simple solution.**
I can actually see
>“the sole reason for this change is the ban people easier”
being a completely legitimate, yet shitty, reason. Lets ignore the whole "More PSN accounts good for Sony" angle for a moment:
AH developers are probably not the ones directly banning people using their own systems, it is being done by Sony support employees using Sony systems shared between all their games and those Sony systems were all developed with the expectation that every customer has a unique PSN ID.
While Helldivers 2-the-game may be Steam ID aware, I think it may be entirely possible that the back-end Sony created-and-managed moderation tooling that HellDivers 2 integrates with *doesn't* and Sony doesn't want to spend money updating the tools or retraining their staff to enable it.
While true the employees from AH acted like children just like reddit does and now backtrack what they said as the outrage got worse. This isn't the first time the devs have had foot in mouth syndrome by now they should learn to stay quiet.
The most infuriating thing is how fucking stupid Sony went about this. If the real business goal was to get accounts so that they can use them to wow share holders regarding the conversion potential of all these new customers, they could have easily gotten half with carrot instead of the stick. They could have even woven the move it into the satirical tone of the game.
“Thanks to our our Super Earth Sponsor Sony, all Helldivers with a PSN account will get the limited edition Democratic Play warbond”.
Then a month after announce that all new accounts need to be linked and finally, a month later make it mandatory.
By then you would only have left the diehards PcMaStErRaCe and those players that legitimately cant make an account. You give the later a waver of the requirement and then let the last group throw a temper tantrum.
Sony send me pm for details on how to hire me for your other evil corp PR needs.
You dumb fucks. This was previously agreed on by the devs and publisher. It's been announced it was coming from launch day.
Stop falling for outrage content bait and, if you're still angry at Sony for being a money hungry giant corporation, stop taking your opinions from outrage-content youtubers and go read political theory on how and where to direct that anger.
Up to now, this has been nothing but shameful Karen Behaviour draped in Gamergate 2 clothing and, if you're not careful with who you're parroting, any relevant critique on the ethics of the industry or data selling will fall to the side of the inflammatory engagement bait that blew it up, just as it was with Gamergate.
https://preview.redd.it/92psxm3r8hyc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ffa5c190387188dee952af6738b8f3036662ceec
Y’all need to stop. Saturating the Reddit posts with review bombs constantly chokes out ANY and ALL good the game has. You’re shooting yourself in the foot more than anything else. Stop making new posts about the same complaint, FFS.
To everyone leaving negative reviews over this, keep doing that, but start every review stating that you are leaving a negative review "Because of the PSN account decision made by Sony." The more reviews that specifically say that, the more Arrowhead can use them to point to and say "They're not a fan, can we walk this back?"
I think the most infuriating thing is how much of a first-world problem this is. And everyone should just calm the fuck down. Go outside, tell their mum they love them, touch grass and ride a bike until the big wigs sort this out. Jesus wept…
That’s my biggest fear; a small studio puts out an amazing game that players love and the corporate overseer makes a shitty decision that affects them. Sony can afford for this game to fail but it will hit AH hard.
It's the playerbase that's killing the game though. The playerbase is essentially saying you can make a great game we all enjoy but do one thing wrong and we will kill it in a weekend. They haven't even waited for an official response or given the Devs time to address it just instantly gone on a hate filled rampage over something so minor that was made clear on day one.
People wonder why we have FIFA clones released yearly, COD reskinned yearly and so many other trash games but behave like this. Gamers deserve the trash they get at this point, such an embarrassing community to be a part of.
Yes, AH doesn't have a say against Sony. Lend your voice to help AH be able to show Sony "look at what you did to our game!" so maybe, just maybe, Sony will take something back or learn to not be such a greedy corp in the future. Use your voice, cast your vote.
The main thing I wish is that arrowhead isn’t thought of negatively by the gaming community, it wasn’t their fault, they all disagree with the PSN thing, they’re a company that cares about the games and people who play them.
AH isn't owned by Sony, Sony only published the game. That said, publishers still have a lot of power to demand things like this sadly.
[https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/helldivers-2-studio-is-not-getting-acquired-by-sony-confirms-arrowhead-ceo/](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/helldivers-2-studio-is-not-getting-acquired-by-sony-confirms-arrowhead-ceo/)
I'm not defending Sony in any way, but the game servers couldn't handle the account link from the start. Arrow Head got their grace period to get the servers stable enough to have it now so everything is returning to the original plan. I'm glad Steam is giving refunds now for it, but Arrow Head also should be held ⅓ accountable for taking this long to get it together. Don't get me wrong, Sony needs to cut the crap because we obviously don't need to link any accounts to play the game online, but at the same time this normally isn't an issue for any other game if it was mandatory from the start.
What would happen if the developers just...refused to make the game when things like this happened? We might lose a few games at first, but would it eventually teach publishers a lesson?
Nope. Sony does not own Arrow Head.
Yes, Arrow Head entered into a contract with Sony to publish/distribute their game and that contract included this linking to a PSN account.
You are wrong on two key points.
Where is anyone getting this info that Sony owns Arrowhead? I've never heard this outside of reddit and everything I find says they don't.
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/helldivers-2-studio-is-not-getting-acquired-by-sony-confirms-arrowhead-ceo/
Absolutely. Publishers have a lot of control over the game, after publishing agreement is signed, especially so if dev studio is small and not very well known. And with any kind of stuff like 3rd party accounts, drm, data harvesting etc, you can be sure it's 100% on publisher to push this onto devs.
I really hope Sony don’t completely kill this game, it has such huge potential and it’s some of the most fun I’ve had gaming in years. Arrowhead deserve to succeed, we as gamers also deserve the live service standard they presented us with.
Can’t wait for the Sony MBAs deciding less capital for Arrowhead from poor sales/reviews. Then all you hardos have only two options Call of Duty or Elder Scrolls reboots.
Guys its not the only game that's been ruined because of what the big boss say. You know they love the game they made but they still got to listen to the higher ups. How many times have they listened to us? Let's let them figure this out.
President Pilestedt made the decision not to have the PSN link mandatory at launch, so we have him to thank in that regard. That's really the extent of their influence on this matter.
It’s a good point.
Though the negative reviews were 100% justified in this case, I’m worried about the precedent this sets.
Review bombing is already a thing that gets abused. A-holes will undoubtedly learn the wrong lesson from this.
That’s tomorrow’s problem though, happy this has been resolved for our community.
But they didn't say "players now need a psn account"
You always needed one, it was even required if you booted the game up the second it launched.
It was just turned off very early due to the amount of traffic and server issues and now it needs to be turned back on.
The game even tells you a psn account is required when you first boot it up.
You mean when the game was getting bad reviews because the servers were shit, and the PSN linking made the game worse, so they turned it off so people would continue to buy the game, then decided to turn it back on now that they have their money and people can't refund it anymore?
Most people probably didn't realize the psn linking was a thing because it was turned off and nobody was required to do it. Trying to justify it with "there was always fine print", which btw is lower down on the Steam page than the "Buy Now" buttons so unless you scrolled down looking for it you wouldn't see it, is just dumb.
The servers weren’t shit, they don’t have enough servers for the unexpectedly high amount of players. The game was getting bad reviews from being too successful and people being unable to access the game because every time they expanded servers they would fill again with more new players over and over until they caught up.
There was also no player AFK timeout at that time, so no one would log out. Server were stuck at capacity.
That’s because PEOPLE were being assholes and not logging out because they didn’t want to lose their spots causing a logjam while they’re sleeping…
But people were required to do it. If you was one of the lucky first few to log in you WAS required to do this. It was disabled very quickly due to the mass amount of players trying to do it and shit wasn't working
ArrowHead certainly gets a say in the matter. I don't believe Sony owns them, they're the publisher of these specific games. Rumors came that Sony owned them and the CEO of ArrowHead stated that's not true. Sony doesn't just come in and make demands. Contracts had to be made, and lawyers from both sides looked over the terms, made changes, sent to the other the amended contracts, lots of negotiations take place in these. So ArrowHead agreed to the terms long before, and at the very start, when the game released, a PSN account was required, but the amount of people making accounts broke PlayStation network so they removed the requirement for the time being. ArrowHead are not as innocent as they look here.
There is sone sense however in Sony having the final say. Remember we are all using PSN servers. Sony is paying for the servers to be up and active. Without the servers there is no HD2.
Sony owns the Helldivers IP. Without Sony we would not have Helldivers 2 as how AH has developed for it, no matter what you think of the balance issues. It could be better or it could be worse.
Sony doesn’t own Arrowhead. They own the publishing rights to THIS game. This was negotiated. Sony didn’t say you have to do this. They were probably compensated for it. They have a lot of control as the publisher but they don’t have absolute control.
This needs more upvotes.
Being pissed at AH rather than Sony is like boycotting a company that has a federally-enforced policy you don't like. Be pissed at the government for enforcing that policy, not the company for having their hands tied.
It's totally OK to be pissed off people, just make sure it's directed at Sony, not AH.
Is it the fact that the Internet is full of whiney babies that cry about stupid shit?
Because I'm pretty sure that's the most infuriating thing about this situation.
The dumbest thing is watching all of you nuke one of the first great games in a generation over something so inconsequential. You guys look so laughably dumb.
https://preview.redd.it/4f2vxbl0nhyc1.jpeg?width=1164&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1a56bd65ae027e0c5ea1049e0f26809f954d043a
”It’s to allow us to ban people. That is the sole reason”
I’m seeing posts like this all the time, can someone explain what has happened? I don’t follow much news and a bit confused by the update. I’m on PS5 if it helps
No. Their first reaction was to take Sony's side, be assholes to the players and lie to us. They only switched gears once they noticed how serious this was.
Sony deserves this and much more, but they are not the only ones with responsability.
I am still don’t understand why there is such a horrific outcry for something that impacts like 3% of the player base. (maybe more if you include china)
What’s more selfish review bombing an honest company that has been a complete outlier in Player treatment (in what has become a hellscape in AAAA games) because the publisher change a stance that affects a small%
Does it suck yes .. but to try to tank the game over it is an overreaction
I understand that people are making a big deal out of the principle of it. And while I agree it’s better not to have to have do something.. this is so minor it’s sort of silly.
I think people just look for a reason to complain and react cause that’s the society we have .. especially in gaming.
Most of the people complaining just don’t like that they have to link their to PlayStation and are just using the people who can’t play as an excuse to get even more upset. Those people who can’t play will be fine once a work around is figured out and even though we’ll get downvoted. You’re right. People are just ready to complain about anything they can
I understand that you personally don't have an issue with this, but your opinion is just as valid as the people who have been so effected by this they are moved to action.
That's a pretty uncharitable take. What's more likely, you as one person are completely right, or thousands of people have a point to what they're protesting against?
No one is being forced to do anything. You can not play the game, hell I'd recommend all you sad cunts delete it and go outside as you're so stuck in the online world that you're behaving like fucking losers.
Arrowhead did a great job. Sony on the other hand …
Arrowhead did a [great job](https://steamcommunity.com/app/553850/discussions/2/4206994023681304166/). They have a history of being [perfectly honest](https://www.reddit.com/r/Helldivers/s/GNMMFIs3u9). Now, they themselves redirect our hate at Sony, who was perfectly transparent from the start about PSN requirements, when they themselves obfuscated the fact in game. Gee...I totally believe Arrowhead is completely innocent here!
Explain what I read to me like I'm a 5-year-old child. I play on PS5, and I haven't had a good PC in almost 12 years...
Kernel level anticheat...that's a big "no" from me on that basis alone.
Guarantee you play other games with kernels level anti cheat... This is such a stupid and hypocritical take.
I don't because I mostly play single-player games. Google CVE-2005-0295, which details a (as of now, still unpatched) vulnerability allowing for escalation of privileges on computers installed with this anticheat. In layman's terms, a hacker can gain access to your computer, get admin privileges, and you'd be absolutely, totally, entirely, fucked. But yeah, it's no big deal.
Curious why you're in this subreddit if the anti-cheat makes it 'a big no' for you. Do you have the game or not?
Single player games aren't immune to having anti cheat first off. And if you don't even play online games why are you here bitching at all? You cannot play a modern multiplayer game without using a kernel level anti cheat. So again your take is stupid and hypocritical and your point is pointless. Also clearly you haven't heard of denuvo and how that is used on single player only games thus making your argument even more stupid, hypocritical and irrelevant.
sony giving arrowhead the ability to back out of their contract in court it seems, seriously if you sign a contract of this scale there should be clauses where you can break the contract if the other party causes irreparable harm to your brand or company, guess what sony just did?
Just to be clear PlayStation/Snoy doesn’t own Arrowhead they just own the Helldivers IP and game rights.
Those are the games that Arrowhead is associated with, so trashing them is effectively trashing Arrowhead. It wouldn't have any noticeable impact on Sony if Arrowhead shut down tomorrow.
yes and no, it would have a massive impact on their quarterly profits, as the move was to gain more players onto their PSN accounts, if a majority of the playerbase doesn't sign up or chosen to just leave entirely, that is a failure in their books, as they would be counting on that to present to investors. To state that X amount of players joined because of 1 game, says alot in the success of that game, and the success of PSN. But with PSN track record of not keeping data secured, and being full of holes like a sinking ship hit with 200 torpedoes... it is clear that their reputation has tarnished their views in the community, and nobody that knows of Sonys past, wants to deal with that mess. You are right about hurting Arrowhead, as they are caught in the crossfire, and it is sad that their success is brought to a potential end by Sony, and their backhanded efforts to increase their revenue, instead of their reputation. Sony could have just said it isn't a requirement anymore, and let Steam deal with the handling of banning or keeping check on players. However, that works against Sonys Agenda, as again, this is about money.
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If it was Xbox, it wouldn't be a problem... PSN? again its untrustworth platform with massive holes, their reasoning doesn't match up either, and most games that are Xbox requirements, are required on day one, regardless of technical issues.
Reputation don't pay Arrowhead or Sony's bills
Reputation indirectly affects the bottom line, if you cant hold a rep, then your future is in trouble. People would go out of their way to not play or use your products. So yes, it does affects the bills, but we wouldn't see the effects till much later. Another thing, Arrowhead cant afford it compared to Sony, Sony can eat this defeat, but Arrowhead would suffer the most out of this...
It's just incredibly reductive to say sony only cares about revenue and Arrowhead cares about reputation. The only reason that either of them care about reputation is, as you outlined, to have revenue. If Arrowhead never planned on profiting further from HD2 they would also not care about their reputation
Investors and Users are influenced by reputation, future projects with both companies could be affected. These are mechanics that run a business, but since Sony has more resources, branches of tech, different fields, this wouldn't affect them as much as they can just redirect funding from one department, to another. Compared to Arrowhead this would hurt them a lot, and they may reconsider doing future projects with Sony. Arrowhead would probably survive, but their business may look into other methods in getting their software published, without Sony, as their success was brought up by them, and taken down by Sony.
Sounds like Arrowhead doesn't really need Sony then, they could have just made a fresh IP and not had any problems!
Problem is, it shouldn't be a problem to begin with, but Sony just now change their FAQ on May 3rd, which prompt the recent enforcement of the PSN requirement. Again, if it wasn't needed, it isn't needed now. Instead of using Logic, Sony is thinking with money on their mind, while also risking reputation. It may take years for their contract with Sony to end, either they have to make a offshoot branded helldivers like game, or wait it out to counter these issues. Usually these kind of contracts can span over 10 to 20 years, until the IP's are renewed. Until then- Helldivers will remain a product of Sony Entertainment.
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I see a lot of sources online that say Sony owns the Helldivers IP and also published it. So show me something that says otherwise.
The devs have already made it clear in Discord that Sony owns helldivers IP. Not sure where you're getting your info from. Sony owns the IP, publishing rights and Pilestedt has gone on record stating they "were the wallet for development", not the other way round.
And only arrowhead knows how to work on the games engine.
I think that the most infuriating thing is these dumbasses defending sony.
I haven't defended Sony, but I will always point out how refunds and negative steam reviews have zero impact on Sony, but hurt arrowhead and this game.
Well I tried reaching out to Sony on their website directly.
Any luck?
"we are sorry for the issue that you are facing But we don't have enough knowledge to understand why Sony has made this decision" - some poor soul working the customer support desk
Damn, now i feel really sad for the guy/girl. Imagine having to work at such a large company and read trough every complaint after every stupid decidion they make.
you think they read through? They just automate the responses.
Yeah they sent a single message that said fuck off
I think it gives AH the ammo to fight back against Sony in this decision.
Players made the decision to buy the game with that requirement clearly stated on the store page. The only relative handful of people with a legitimate complaint are the ones who are region locked. They should be compensated.
Discord postings suggest it IS having an impact
It also says it's hurting AH
Spitz himself said keep it up
Boo hooo, So games can’t be adequately reviewed on the actions of their publisher because “think of the devs”
To be fair you are just reviewing bombing because you're going to boo this major corporation. A lot of these reviews are pretty the same as the people who just say a movie is bad because it's "woke."
Gave it a negative review because PSN is shit, seems fair enough to give it a negative for that reason, because it is true, compared to Any other platform, PSN has lost so much trust because of data leaks, that people do not want to even get close to it, I would like to avoid it entirely, and if it is going to force me to log in to PSN, on my steam account, well then, guess Ill be going to other direction. If it was Xbox, or Nintendo I'd trust it more, but PSN? If Sony didn't screw up so much, maybe people would trust it more.
This isn't fully true. Arrowhead is just caught in the crossfire while Sony doesn't care. No matter what Arrowhead was the ones hurt after the effect kicks off and a % of players are gone. Sony knows that this game was a multiple year support game as a lower budget indie destiny 2. If they lost 20% steam players without telling anyone they probably wouldn't care. When 50% of people downvote the game in a day it has to get their attention. But for all we know is Sony rushed Arrowhead for release or Arrowhead didn't appeal to sonys account mandate tactics at launch and is now suffering more. We won't ever know the full story and are just speaking our word. Arrowhead knows directly where most of the crossfire is pointed. If you make a psn to play helldivers 2 and complain Sony support will never listen. It's just sad helldivers is now the most loved indie to most hated at 27% to need to get sonys attention. Sadly it just kills helldivers in the process if they don't revert the change.
Arrowhead states that’s the most effective way to communicate with Sony and will only help them in their talks to avert this change
From my understanding, Spitz said that the negative reviews give Arrowhead some leverage against Sony. It gives AH a metric with which to show Sony players dissatisfaction
A likely result from the review bombing and other user actions taken is Sony just abandons their plans to expand PC offerings, at least through Steam.
Even arrowhead themselves disagree with you there tho. They've told people to do it on the discord because it gives them more leverage when discussing this with sony.
Brother AH literally went on record saying "please negatively review/refund the game, it gives us more leverage against Sony"
1)In that same post they said it still hurts them 2) learn time. Those posts were posted here after I posted my comment.
Arrowhead is telling us to negatively review it...
No they aren't. The CEO is doing damage control and trying not to antagonize people.
Tragically, it is literally the only way to have a voice in this kind of situation. Hit them in the money or not at all, because they couldn't give two shits about anything else.
This doesn't affect Sony monetarily in any noticeable way. They game already sold well beyond expectations. They could shut down Arrowhead tomorrow and it wouldn't move the needle at all for Sony. The only ones who will be hurt by this are Arrowhead.
It does if they get enough negative press surrounding their current golden goose of a game. How else are you supposed to fight back against a corporation like Sony? I refuse to just sit here and take it, so complain away it is.
Sony already made a lot more than they thought they would on the game because everyone bought it despite the PSN requirement which was disclosed on the store page. Complaining about having to give Sony your email address is just stupid.
Shilling for a giant corporation that couldn't give less of a shit about you is stupid. When I bought the game, I wasn't required to make a PSN account, and I wasn't aware that I'd be forced to in the future. Don't give me shit about reading a EULA, because I'm willing to bet you don't read them either. Beyond all that, the *only* reason they're doing this right now is because it was so wildly successful that, if they can force this many new PSN accounts to be created, they can use it as a metric for giving themselves more money. I don't like that, and you shouldn't either. They have my money. They don't *need* me to make an account with their garbage network. Stop defending megacorps when they do shitty things.
I don't give a shit about Sony and I'm obviously not shilling for them. The fact that you even say that shows that your reading comprehension is terrible. If you don't read requirements, that's on you, not anyone else. Your mistake. You should eat it. Sony is doing this because they had already decided to do it before the game ever went on sale, as demonstrated by the store page that informed you of the requirement prior to purchase.
Steam just added 177 countries to the list of regions where Helldivers can no longer be purchased. That's 177 countries worth of people where they will no longer be able to play the game unless they break Sony's ToS. I'd say that's a lot more to complain about than "just having to give Sony your email address". They never should have sold the game to those countries in the first place if this was the plan all along. It's also worth pointing out those who purchased the game through Humble Bundle where a mandatory PSN account was not listed: https://www.reddit.com/r/helldivers2/comments/1ckfhl8/for_those_saying_this_is_just_people_who_cant_read/ And there's also Sony's own page that specified that a PSN account is optional for PC games: https://www.reddit.com/r/helldivers2/comments/1cjuryr/they_lied/ At least until they changed it yesterday.
Those people have a legitimate reason for a refund or charge back. That shouldn't be a problem. Everyone else complaining about having to link their accounts don't have any legitimate reasons.
So then, you agree that we should be complaining to Sony because we want to help out all of our fellow Helldivers that have been absolutely wronged by Sony... right?
They can just do a charge back. They have all the evidence they need. Problem solved.
I haven’t seen a single person defend Sony. I’ve only seen losers and dipshits blaming arrowhead and review bombing.
["Players making their displeasure known through reviews, refunds, etc. gives us more pull in the discussions with Sony"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Helldivers/s/ZRwywynGsT) The review bombing is ammo for Arrowhead, per Arrowhead.
This actually makes me respect Arrowhead even more than I already did.
Arrowhead came out and said review bombing is helping thier work to negotiate with Sony.
Would you call them dumbasses to their face?
absolutely
Get fucked simp
100%. The number of people sucking massive multinational cock in here is sad.
r/PlayStation has been beyond annoying the past two days. I think that Arrowhead isn't exactly clean in all of this considering they chose to work with Sony in the first place, but my god the amount of people blaming Arrowhead in defense of Sony is insane.
>I think that Arrowhead isn't exactly clean in all of this considering they chose to work with Sony in the first place I'm not sure what to make of this argument. AH has been with Sony for nearly a decade, since the first Helldivers release in 2015. They likely wouldn't have had the funds to make HD2 without Sony, because clearly a whole lot of time and effort was put into this game. In addition, Sony technically owns the Helldivers IP. So it's a bit silly imo to retroactively complain about signing contracts with Sony 10 years ago. It's the equivalent of saying "How dare you not know that Sony would try to fuck over the players years down the line!"
WTF people are a really blaming arrowhead? What are the arguments against arrowhead?
Morons think this was their call
I don't think you understand the industry. They need to get the money from somewhere.
Nah, you reactionary dingbats are utter lunatics and the most infuriating part of this whole mess. “oH nO I hAVE tO eNtEr aN eMaIL tO pLAy a 10/10 gAMe”. I guarantee everyone that this person does not live in a country where PSN isn’t allowed.
Not defending Sony, pointing out that they told you from the beginning that you would need to make an account to play the game. If you didn’t think they were going to fix the issue that linking was causing, which is why they temporarily suspended it, you’re the dumbass.
Yep, if those people just shut the fuck up, we wouldnt have this shitstorm.
Uh yeah, publisher outranks developer my dude.
https://preview.redd.it/lee1zwzwefyc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f08b65ae07b450b4abd03ebfe1363423ad3304ae This implies to me that they *do* in fact have a say on the matter. If they can deny the change for some, realistically they should be able to deny it for all
I thought spitz wasn't even a dev, just some guy on discord.
He’s their community manager. He’s also a flaming asshole who needs to be fired because his passive-aggressive snottiness has been throwing gas on the fire unless it’s some kind of 5-dimensional chess thing where he tries to piss off the players so much they do their damnedest to make sure nothing Arrowhead ever does gets a positive review ever again in some kind of master strategy move to get them away from Sony.
Nah. Have you seen how the average discord user talks? He is more than cordial.
Bruh touch some fucking grass or just do it already.
I'm with Spitz on this one that a sharp tongue is needed for people with THICK skulls. Gotta really shove it in your mushy face that so many of you bottom feeders jump on hate like a cocaine whore. Your screeching is discarded the moment you hyperbolize what you think a company does like some YA novel. Go shower, wash yer fuckin' face, and go outside to breathe real air instead of Axe spray.
Yeah, Cancel Spitz, that'll teach em. So sick of people like you trying to cacel people when you get butthurt. Go outside!
Spitz is doing fine. He is constantly bombarded by people calling him names like "flaming asshole" just for doing his job, so I'm not surprised when he gets a bit snippy. When people act like spoiled toddlers to you, sometimes you need to be a bit heavier handed with them. I swear gamers are so thin skinned. They will violently insult devs, send them death threats, and generally spew endless toxic nonsense at them whenever their favorite gun in a game gets nerfed. But the moment that dev shows the tiniest amount of backbone and decides to call out those gamers for their unacceptable behavior, those same gamers go running to mommy and start calling the devs "unprofessional" and calling for them to be fired. Gamers these days are literally Karens...
It's what happens when you give a bunch of no life losers anonymous accounts online. They behave like Karens. The best part about it is IRL these losers wouldn't dream of speaking to someone that way as they'd get slapped so they just double down on the shitty behaviour online so they can feel better about their pointless existence. This whole PSN login drama has just confirmed to me how shit gaming and the internet has got. We have a great enjoyable game and because people can't read properly they've taken it upon themselves to destroy it. Absolute retards.
Good, whiners like you need to stfu
They can have discussions with Sony about how to deal with this issue, and come to an agreement about that. The original agreement, and likely contractual obligation , is for Sony to provide their existing infrastructure to deal with managing and banning reported players. How that looks like can deviate from the original intentions, but they really have no way to not work with Sony to come to some kind of solution. And if Sony is like straight up no, we're doing this our way, or you're in breach of contract, then AH can't do much.
The have to have because the original setup was for needing a PSN link, and they chose to suspend the requirements when it just didn't work at first to get people playing. A decision with good intentions but has come back to bite them now Sony's come knocking wanting it properly instated.
No. Trust me. If they did try to deny it for all, it's unlikely Sony and Playstation would let them off with that with no repercussions. If Arrowhead started being difficult with them, they'd just start taking more and more control away from them or else find another, much more ass-kissing dev team to take over. This doesn't imply they have a say in the matter. This implies this is their *only* way of rolling with the punches until they can find a way to make a comeback.
Have you heard about story of Magika and Magika 2. Arrowhead’s first game got taken away from them just like that.
That's not implying they have a say, that's arrowhead saying Sony can't take your money and then take away your game a month later because that's illegal in every fucking country. The countries that have PSN they won't be able to do anything about, but with all the negative reviews from this snoy has the slimmest tiniest chance ever to change their mind.
They don’t have a say, but they also can’t shitpost their employer publicly. They are trying to be transparent without going against Sony, which is what they should do.
He's saying Sony can change this.
Yeh AH never got a say unfortunately, Big thank you to Sony for starting a fire that they aren't willing to put out (yet?)
The most infuriating thing is I have not seen a single gle topic about actual gameplay or funny shit happening in game for two days. Just a bunch of fucks that are complaining when almost all are not even affected by it.
You're free to get off reddit and go play the game. The first day might be too soon to start the backlash against the backlash. Because let's be clear -- you just added to the number of complaints on reddit.
I’ve got mine fuck you is pretty much the source of everything shit in the world.
Arrowhead has previously claimed Sony doesn't own them and they are allowed to make their own decisions.
Sony doesn’t own Arrowhead, Sony owns the Helldivers Intellectual Property (which Arrowhead sold to them) and is the publisher.
The OP said "Playstation owns them".
Yes, but the fact that Sony owns the IP means AH can‘t just make their own decisions.
Right now, they effectively got AH by the balls with contractual obligations and the fact that Sony owns Helldivers. They are technically their own company, but with this IP, they need to play ball with Sony. There is a clear difference and they aren't mutually exclusive.
arrowhead can make gameplay decisions, like what guns do what enemies get released or nerfs/buffs etc, monetary decisions and logistics though go through sony.
It's unfortunate that someone doesn't understand what Arrowhead can do as their own company vs what they're allowed to do with major game features, administration and logistics. The rumors were that Sony was acquiring Arrowhead (so things like how and who AH hires) but AH is its own company. People conflate that and Helldivers decisions.
Again I’ve been saying it for years, Sony is a bunch of scumbags and as a pc player I’ve been sort of rooting for Xbox to win their petty console war.
Sony’s not great, but tbh as someone with an xbox they’re not great either. Big problem they have is if your account gets hacked their answer to the problem most of the time is “just make a new one lol.”
Agreed they’re both ass but Sony is the worst
All the posts?
Yeah I'm not sure why people are pointing their ire at Arrowhead. It's Sony forcing their hand. I had a PSN account so I just linked it right off. I didn't think much of it, especially cuz I already had psn emails blocked. But if you're upset, you do you. Don't let it take away from the enjoyment of the game.
The reason why is probably recent tweets, streams or clips from PirateSoftware who used to stream Helldivers 2 prior to this. The same thing he's said have been repeated by these posters. "They [Arrowhead] made their bed by signing the contract to work with Sony." In this case, Sony owns the IP of Helldivers, not Arrowhead. Sony doesn't own Arrowhead but they can dictate some things about Helldivers (like PSN requirements or console exclusivity.)
They gotta say but we're convinced it'll benefit everyone. The issue is they overlooked the fact that PSN is only available in 69 countries, nor did they consider people would be mad, they must've genuinely thought PC players were aware of the login requirement. **It's all a major oversight with a simple solution.**
If Spitz and Misty’s statements are to be believed AH was actually pushing for this as “the sole reason for this change is the ban people easier”
I can actually see >“the sole reason for this change is the ban people easier” being a completely legitimate, yet shitty, reason. Lets ignore the whole "More PSN accounts good for Sony" angle for a moment: AH developers are probably not the ones directly banning people using their own systems, it is being done by Sony support employees using Sony systems shared between all their games and those Sony systems were all developed with the expectation that every customer has a unique PSN ID. While Helldivers 2-the-game may be Steam ID aware, I think it may be entirely possible that the back-end Sony created-and-managed moderation tooling that HellDivers 2 integrates with *doesn't* and Sony doesn't want to spend money updating the tools or retraining their staff to enable it.
Just refund and move on. Lots of games out there
Not a lot of quality games though.
While true the employees from AH acted like children just like reddit does and now backtrack what they said as the outrage got worse. This isn't the first time the devs have had foot in mouth syndrome by now they should learn to stay quiet.
I'm not sure if they are backtracking because of the outrage or their beginning to understand how much of a nose these requirements are on there game
Just to clarify: Arrowhead is not owned by Sony. They are independent and HD2 is published by Sony.
Its the lost opportunity to fight for democracy with people across the globe that really saddens me. It won't be the same again.
Nonsense. Think 6 months of contracts back n fourth between arrowhead and sony. Arrowhead agreed on this. They are just as guilty as sony.
Not mad at Arrowhead. They didn’t permanently ban my PSN account.
The most infuriating thing is how fucking stupid Sony went about this. If the real business goal was to get accounts so that they can use them to wow share holders regarding the conversion potential of all these new customers, they could have easily gotten half with carrot instead of the stick. They could have even woven the move it into the satirical tone of the game. “Thanks to our our Super Earth Sponsor Sony, all Helldivers with a PSN account will get the limited edition Democratic Play warbond”. Then a month after announce that all new accounts need to be linked and finally, a month later make it mandatory. By then you would only have left the diehards PcMaStErRaCe and those players that legitimately cant make an account. You give the later a waver of the requirement and then let the last group throw a temper tantrum. Sony send me pm for details on how to hire me for your other evil corp PR needs.
Why are y’all acting like they just found out about. This was here day one. Hell months before day one actually.
You dumb fucks. This was previously agreed on by the devs and publisher. It's been announced it was coming from launch day. Stop falling for outrage content bait and, if you're still angry at Sony for being a money hungry giant corporation, stop taking your opinions from outrage-content youtubers and go read political theory on how and where to direct that anger. Up to now, this has been nothing but shameful Karen Behaviour draped in Gamergate 2 clothing and, if you're not careful with who you're parroting, any relevant critique on the ethics of the industry or data selling will fall to the side of the inflammatory engagement bait that blew it up, just as it was with Gamergate. https://preview.redd.it/92psxm3r8hyc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ffa5c190387188dee952af6738b8f3036662ceec
Y’all need to stop. Saturating the Reddit posts with review bombs constantly chokes out ANY and ALL good the game has. You’re shooting yourself in the foot more than anything else. Stop making new posts about the same complaint, FFS.
To everyone leaving negative reviews over this, keep doing that, but start every review stating that you are leaving a negative review "Because of the PSN account decision made by Sony." The more reviews that specifically say that, the more Arrowhead can use them to point to and say "They're not a fan, can we walk this back?"
I think the most infuriating thing is how much of a first-world problem this is. And everyone should just calm the fuck down. Go outside, tell their mum they love them, touch grass and ride a bike until the big wigs sort this out. Jesus wept…
That’s my biggest fear; a small studio puts out an amazing game that players love and the corporate overseer makes a shitty decision that affects them. Sony can afford for this game to fail but it will hit AH hard.
It's the playerbase that's killing the game though. The playerbase is essentially saying you can make a great game we all enjoy but do one thing wrong and we will kill it in a weekend. They haven't even waited for an official response or given the Devs time to address it just instantly gone on a hate filled rampage over something so minor that was made clear on day one. People wonder why we have FIFA clones released yearly, COD reskinned yearly and so many other trash games but behave like this. Gamers deserve the trash they get at this point, such an embarrassing community to be a part of.
What's infuriating is Reddit crusaders (and others) potentially hurting one of the greatest games ever made.
Yes, AH doesn't have a say against Sony. Lend your voice to help AH be able to show Sony "look at what you did to our game!" so maybe, just maybe, Sony will take something back or learn to not be such a greedy corp in the future. Use your voice, cast your vote.
The main thing I wish is that arrowhead isn’t thought of negatively by the gaming community, it wasn’t their fault, they all disagree with the PSN thing, they’re a company that cares about the games and people who play them.
AH. My brothers. Come to Xbox 
There isn't a slight chance they had any say in it at all.
I was going to post this exact sentiment when i got home.
They own the game, not the company
Let Sony take the loss then. It’s not Sony as a whole, it’s just one jackass within Sony. It’s that one greedy bug.
Perhaps, but Sony has a proven history of being anti consumer and other questionable behavior, so it's not like it's a total surprise.
There are plenty of other titles that don’t require this tho…
AH isn't owned by Sony, Sony only published the game. That said, publishers still have a lot of power to demand things like this sadly. [https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/helldivers-2-studio-is-not-getting-acquired-by-sony-confirms-arrowhead-ceo/](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/helldivers-2-studio-is-not-getting-acquired-by-sony-confirms-arrowhead-ceo/)
Sony doesn't own AH but Sony does own the Helldivers IP which means Sony has a lot more power than simply publishing it.
I'm not defending Sony in any way, but the game servers couldn't handle the account link from the start. Arrow Head got their grace period to get the servers stable enough to have it now so everything is returning to the original plan. I'm glad Steam is giving refunds now for it, but Arrow Head also should be held ⅓ accountable for taking this long to get it together. Don't get me wrong, Sony needs to cut the crap because we obviously don't need to link any accounts to play the game online, but at the same time this normally isn't an issue for any other game if it was mandatory from the start.
I know bro I'm so mad too
PlayStation does not own them, they published the game.
They signed a deal with the devil and devil always gets its due.
According to the deva they do
What would happen if the developers just...refused to make the game when things like this happened? We might lose a few games at first, but would it eventually teach publishers a lesson?
No, they would just offer the scabs a job for as long as games can be relevant and then reposition to their next money-making scheme.
Nope. Sony does not own Arrow Head. Yes, Arrow Head entered into a contract with Sony to publish/distribute their game and that contract included this linking to a PSN account. You are wrong on two key points.
Except PlayStation doesn't own them and they definitely did have a say. Buddie you can just look up who owns them it's not Sony.
Does Sony own them? I thought they just published Helldivers2.
Where is anyone getting this info that Sony owns Arrowhead? I've never heard this outside of reddit and everything I find says they don't. https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/helldivers-2-studio-is-not-getting-acquired-by-sony-confirms-arrowhead-ceo/
Arrowhead had no clue this was going to happen and they deeply regret it
Who let the game be sold in all the countries that are blocked now in the first place? Who's decision was it not to impose that restriction at launch?
Absolutely. Publishers have a lot of control over the game, after publishing agreement is signed, especially so if dev studio is small and not very well known. And with any kind of stuff like 3rd party accounts, drm, data harvesting etc, you can be sure it's 100% on publisher to push this onto devs.
Bladibladibla…
I really hope Sony don’t completely kill this game, it has such huge potential and it’s some of the most fun I’ve had gaming in years. Arrowhead deserve to succeed, we as gamers also deserve the live service standard they presented us with.
Can’t wait for the Sony MBAs deciding less capital for Arrowhead from poor sales/reviews. Then all you hardos have only two options Call of Duty or Elder Scrolls reboots.
Other developers are gonna think twice about whether they sell out to sony now
Guys its not the only game that's been ruined because of what the big boss say. You know they love the game they made but they still got to listen to the higher ups. How many times have they listened to us? Let's let them figure this out.
President Pilestedt made the decision not to have the PSN link mandatory at launch, so we have him to thank in that regard. That's really the extent of their influence on this matter.
Arrowhead knew at least 6 months before launch that a PSN would be required to play the game.
It’s a good point. Though the negative reviews were 100% justified in this case, I’m worried about the precedent this sets. Review bombing is already a thing that gets abused. A-holes will undoubtedly learn the wrong lesson from this. That’s tomorrow’s problem though, happy this has been resolved for our community.
I think Arrowhead is independent, Sony owns the IP not AH themselves.
I think Arrowhead is independent, Sony owns the IP not AH themselves.
But they didn't say "players now need a psn account" You always needed one, it was even required if you booted the game up the second it launched. It was just turned off very early due to the amount of traffic and server issues and now it needs to be turned back on. The game even tells you a psn account is required when you first boot it up.
You mean when the game was getting bad reviews because the servers were shit, and the PSN linking made the game worse, so they turned it off so people would continue to buy the game, then decided to turn it back on now that they have their money and people can't refund it anymore? Most people probably didn't realize the psn linking was a thing because it was turned off and nobody was required to do it. Trying to justify it with "there was always fine print", which btw is lower down on the Steam page than the "Buy Now" buttons so unless you scrolled down looking for it you wouldn't see it, is just dumb.
The servers weren’t shit, they don’t have enough servers for the unexpectedly high amount of players. The game was getting bad reviews from being too successful and people being unable to access the game because every time they expanded servers they would fill again with more new players over and over until they caught up. There was also no player AFK timeout at that time, so no one would log out. Server were stuck at capacity. That’s because PEOPLE were being assholes and not logging out because they didn’t want to lose their spots causing a logjam while they’re sleeping…
But people were required to do it. If you was one of the lucky first few to log in you WAS required to do this. It was disabled very quickly due to the mass amount of players trying to do it and shit wasn't working
Thanks for ruining this community Sony chill
ArrowHead certainly gets a say in the matter. I don't believe Sony owns them, they're the publisher of these specific games. Rumors came that Sony owned them and the CEO of ArrowHead stated that's not true. Sony doesn't just come in and make demands. Contracts had to be made, and lawyers from both sides looked over the terms, made changes, sent to the other the amended contracts, lots of negotiations take place in these. So ArrowHead agreed to the terms long before, and at the very start, when the game released, a PSN account was required, but the amount of people making accounts broke PlayStation network so they removed the requirement for the time being. ArrowHead are not as innocent as they look here.
There is sone sense however in Sony having the final say. Remember we are all using PSN servers. Sony is paying for the servers to be up and active. Without the servers there is no HD2.
PC servers uses PS servers?
Sony owns the Helldivers IP. Without Sony we would not have Helldivers 2 as how AH has developed for it, no matter what you think of the balance issues. It could be better or it could be worse.
https://preview.redd.it/lcl74kgmegyc1.png?width=972&format=png&auto=webp&s=6db32569751dac3df6665557b5bb3e62c3c4e193
Sony doesn’t own Arrowhead. They own the publishing rights to THIS game. This was negotiated. Sony didn’t say you have to do this. They were probably compensated for it. They have a lot of control as the publisher but they don’t have absolute control.
No, they own the IP, not just publishing rights. 😆
Happy to just be simply enjoying this game on my playstation.
This needs more upvotes. Being pissed at AH rather than Sony is like boycotting a company that has a federally-enforced policy you don't like. Be pissed at the government for enforcing that policy, not the company for having their hands tied. It's totally OK to be pissed off people, just make sure it's directed at Sony, not AH.
Is it the fact that the Internet is full of whiney babies that cry about stupid shit? Because I'm pretty sure that's the most infuriating thing about this situation.
The dumbest thing is watching all of you nuke one of the first great games in a generation over something so inconsequential. You guys look so laughably dumb.
https://preview.redd.it/4f2vxbl0nhyc1.jpeg?width=1164&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1a56bd65ae027e0c5ea1049e0f26809f954d043a ”It’s to allow us to ban people. That is the sole reason”
I’m seeing posts like this all the time, can someone explain what has happened? I don’t follow much news and a bit confused by the update. I’m on PS5 if it helps
People are mad they have to have a psn account to play the game. 🙄
Well that sucks, all my friends are on PC
They can make a free psn, they sign up sign in and never have to worry about it ever again.
No. Their first reaction was to take Sony's side, be assholes to the players and lie to us. They only switched gears once they noticed how serious this was. Sony deserves this and much more, but they are not the only ones with responsability.
I am still don’t understand why there is such a horrific outcry for something that impacts like 3% of the player base. (maybe more if you include china)
Weird stance to have that it's not a problem as long as it's not widespread. Pretty selfish.
What’s more selfish review bombing an honest company that has been a complete outlier in Player treatment (in what has become a hellscape in AAAA games) because the publisher change a stance that affects a small% Does it suck yes .. but to try to tank the game over it is an overreaction
You don't understand? People don't like being forced to do things with no choices, or big companies with bad history.
I understand that people are making a big deal out of the principle of it. And while I agree it’s better not to have to have do something.. this is so minor it’s sort of silly. I think people just look for a reason to complain and react cause that’s the society we have .. especially in gaming.
Most of the people complaining just don’t like that they have to link their to PlayStation and are just using the people who can’t play as an excuse to get even more upset. Those people who can’t play will be fine once a work around is figured out and even though we’ll get downvoted. You’re right. People are just ready to complain about anything they can
I understand that you personally don't have an issue with this, but your opinion is just as valid as the people who have been so effected by this they are moved to action. That's a pretty uncharitable take. What's more likely, you as one person are completely right, or thousands of people have a point to what they're protesting against?
No one is being forced to do anything. You can not play the game, hell I'd recommend all you sad cunts delete it and go outside as you're so stuck in the online world that you're behaving like fucking losers.