Sony has some news for Helldivers 2 fans on Steam, that they may not exactly like.
They shared this message on a new Steam update:
“Due to technical issues at the launch of HELLDIVERS™ 2, we allowed the linking requirements for Steam accounts to a PlayStation Network account to be temporarily optional. That grace period will now expire. See details below in this post.
Account linking plays a critical role in protecting our players and upholding the values of safety and security provided on PlayStation and PlayStation Studios games.
This is our main way to protect players from griefing and abuse by enabling the banning of players that engage in that type of behaviour. It also allows those players that have been banned the right to appeal.
As such, as of May 6th, all new HELLDIVERS 2 players on Steam will be required to connect their Steam account to a PlayStation Network account.
Current players on Steam will start to see the mandatory login from May 30th and will be required to have linked a Steam and PlayStation Network account by June 4th.”
They then shared this link for Steam users to create a PlayStation Network account if they don’t have one yet.
Obviously, Sony does have fair reason to be concerned about security of their servers. Since Helldivers 2 uses Sony’s servers, they will want to take every step possible to keep them secure, and the point is to make sure players don’t get cheated on or hacked.
But we all know what else this is going to lead to. The additional friction that comes with having to make new accounts discourages people from buying video games. That Sony didn’t make this a requirement for a while is probably also the reason that so many people bought and played Helldivers 2 on Steam.
For sure, Sony and Arrowhead also anticipated that there would be a backlash to this. There will be players who won’t carry over to making a PlayStation Network account, and the potentially smaller player base can also create adverse effects on Helldivers 2’s future meta, as the game is a live service title after all.
But we’re not going to predict outright doom and gloom for this title. It remains to be seen how many players are going to drop off after this PSN requirement. If anything, Arrowhead can still boast that they made their money off of this title, and even a smaller portion of loyal fans going on to play for the next few years could still be a plum steady source of revenue.
