Sony And PlayStation Return Helldivers 2 to Steam After 200,000 Negative Reviews

Sony and PlayStation announced that the decision to require a PlayStation Network (PSN) account to play the popular video game Helldivers 2 has been reversed after hundreds of thousands of users across the world complained, leaving over 200,000 negative reviews on the game’s Steam page.

Sony, the publisher of the game, announced on May 3 that customers playing on PC would be required to have a PSN account to continue playing and removed Helldivers 2 from Steam in over 170 countries, some of which the PlayStation service isn’t even available. All of this occurred three months after releasing Helldivers 2 to players worldwide.

The company explained that it was planned from the beginning and hadn’t been required before “due to technical issues.”

The decision made thousands of players rage, request their money back, and ally to bring down the stellar reputation of the Arrowhead Games Studio game, which was said to have already sold around 8 million copies by mid-March.

According to Forbes, Sony made a “truly terrible mistake,” calling it an unfair decision toward its customers. “Players might not have purchased the game or might have returned it if they’d known.”

Just a few minutes after Sony’s announcement, thousands of players shared thoughts on social media channels, notably Reddit. They started writing poor reviews on Steam that quickly snowballed into 200,000, as confirmed by The Verge.

“Greatly disappointed with the additional forced change of requiring a PSN account in order to play the game,” wrote one user on Steam the day after the announcement.

The reputation of the esteemed game was severely affected, and the companies reconsidered. PlayStation posted an official announcement on its X account on May 6, telling customers that the PSN account requirement will not be necessary anymore.

“Helldivers fans — 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 current players beginning May 30, will not be moving forward.”

Customers were content with the reconsideration and even wrote positive reviews to get the game’s great reputation back. “Democracy has prevailed,” said one user on Steam. “This game is so good that we even had a campaign mission in real life,” wrote another.