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Games

Sony Will Soon Require 'Helldivers 2' PC Gamers To Link Their Steam Accounts To PSN, Angering Users (gamesradar.com) 86

"Players who made Steam purchases of Helldivers 2 are now, months after the fact, being told by Sony that their games will be useless unless linked to a PSN account," writes longtime Slashdot reader Baron_Yam. From a report: Publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment announced today that Helldivers 2 players on Steam will soon be required to link their in-game profiles to a PlayStation Network account -- a feature that was optional at launch due to "technical issues" -- or risk losing access to the game. SIE explained that account linking allows players to take advantage of "safety and security" provided by PlayStation, as it can more easily protect folks from "griefing and abuse by enabling the banning of players that engage in that type of behavior."

Many Steam players haven't responded well to the news. As of the time of writing, over 2,500 negative user reviews have been submitted to the game's storefront page today, blemishing an otherwise spotless "Very Positive" rating. Some reviews cite data harvesting and security concerns as potential worries. Others point to the fact that Sony waited months after launch to make account linking mandatory. How this affects players in regions that don't have access to the PlayStation Network is a bigger concern, though. In the Helldivers 2 Discord, community manager Thomas 'Twinbeard' Petersson said they aren't yet sure what these rule changes meant for players in areas without PSN access, which could be another factor contributing to the negative downturn.

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Sony Will Soon Require 'Helldivers 2' PC Gamers To Link Their Steam Accounts To PSN, Angering Users

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  • Security concerns (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    It's not like Sony has the best track record when it comes to security. I get why people would be upset.
    https://tech.slashdot.org/stor... [slashdot.org]
  • by TwistedGreen ( 80055 ) on Friday May 03, 2024 @06:22PM (#64446230)

    Oh well, play another game I guess. The illusion that you "own" the game you paid for should've been obvious a long time ago. I think there is a good precedent that this will allow users to claim refunds if the game's system requirements are materially changed after purchase, though.

    • Get a "fixed" executable and you definitely own that game. Best of both worlds. The developer gets paid for their work, and you get a game that actually works when you want it to work.

      The real question gamers will never demand answers from publishers over is: "Why the fuck do we get a broken game that has multiple restrictions, bugs, glitches, and online authentication requirements when we pay for it, while the pirates get a game that has none of these problems when they steal it?"

      *: Note "steal" is the
      • This is exactly the problem. The publishers of the game compete with "free". Because that's the price the average user of a cracked version pays. You can of course compete with free. By giving a "better" product. Either because it's more compatible or something the user already is used to (this is why Windows is still so popular despite everything) or by offering more convenience and better accessibility with a lower learning curve (what Steam and Apple offer, click and "it just works").

        If you go out of you

  • by jacks smirking reven ( 909048 ) on Friday May 03, 2024 @07:08PM (#64446342)

    If I own Helldivers 2 on PC can I also now play it on my Playstation? No, that just impossible Sony?

    Microsoft at least gives you the option since they control both platforms but such an arrangement would be nice and a real appeal of a Steam Deck over say a Switch which I have to buy games I like all over again.

  • if every game publisher in the world didn't do it already, virtually every game you buy forces you go through their launcher.
    • Which is why I almost exclusively play indie games. They let me launch their games via GOG (or just run the binary) just fine without having the infect the machine with some ridiculously overblown launcher.

      It's similar to why I prefer Brother printers, they allow you to just install the driver without having to install their overblown "printer manager" and the kitchen sink.

  • I may be extrapolating too much, but it seems there is something wrong in Sony's corporate values. I have their flagship headphones, and they are annoying AF. They are full of annoying and very loud audio prompts, most of which can't be turned off. They don't respect my phone's silent mode. They ring when I need to not be disturbed, for example when I'm sleeping. Customers complain about this. They contact customer service asking for solutions. They return newly purchased headphones.

    Most companies drink the

    • by Bahbus ( 1180627 )

      Sony hasn't released a real quality product (retail or commercially) since the 90s. The entire company is garbage at just about everything they do, but people keep shoveling Sony's shit into their mouths by the truckful.

  • All Ubisoft games requires you to link to a Ubisoft account to play, even for single-player PS5 games that you bought through PSN (and hence already have a PSN account they can link to). That's right, you cannot play offline single-player Ubisoft game you have already paid for without linking to a Ubisoft account.

    How is what Sony doing now different or worse? Where is the outrage when Ubisoft did it?

    • by Sakuta ( 7459770 )

      Learn to read

      • by khchung ( 462899 )

        Go ahead and try to capture a screenshot *in the PSN store* of a Ubisoft game telling you that you need a Ubisoft account to play the game. I'll wait, good luck finding it because it wasn't mentioned at all on any Ubisoft games in the PSN store.

    • by Bahbus ( 1180627 )

      No outrage with Ubisoft because Ubisoft didn't release a game that didn't require it first, wait until it got really popular, and then suddenly make it required when you theoretically can no longer get a refund, and you can't go back in time and just not buy it. Likewise, if the PSN account was required since day 1 on HD2, there would be no outrage, however the sales would have been lower.

      • The requirement has long been on the Steam page, apparently. They didn't change anything.

        • by Bahbus ( 1180627 )

          They listed it on the Steam page but it wasn't actually enforced in any way, shape, or form. The need to link to PSN at launch was seemingly only to enable cross-platform play/friends, which most people don't give a shit about. So, yes, something has changed, or at least will be changing soon, internally to require the PSN to play the game which clearly wasn't needed before. It's a fake requirement and it provides nothing.

    • Well, 2 reasons.

      First, the obvious one: Ubisoft tells you about this right out the gate. No Ubisoft-account, no playing. It was possible to play Helldivers2 'til now without a PSN account.

      Second, and a direct result of the first one, people who don't want to jump through these hoops already don't buy Ubisoft games because they already know what's in store for them. They used to complain back when Ubisoft started this practice, and they don't complain anymore now. They just don't buy the junk, and I'm pretty

      • by khchung ( 462899 )

        First, the obvious one: Ubisoft tells you about this right out the gate. No Ubisoft-account, no playing.

        No they didn't. If you look at any Ubisoft games (e.g. Assassin's Creed, Farcry, Rainbow 6, etc, I just checked again to make sure) available on the PSN, there is *nothing at all* about requiring a Ubisoft account mentioned in the game info. You will only find out after you bought, downloaded, and started the game that the game will ask you for your Ubisoft account, and you cannot play without one.

        • by skam240 ( 789197 )

          How is that relevant? It's PC players who are having this problem and on Steam at least Ubisoft does indeed label the fact that you need an account with them to play their crappy games.

        • Hmm. Interesting. On Steam, you get that information.

          Maybe console gamers are too used to being ripped off and having their privacy violated that they can get away with something like that, I don't know.

    • No not like Ubisoft. Ubisoft do not let you buy and play a game for hundreds of hours only to force you to link the account several months later. The deal was known up front, from the first time you launched the game (and critically within the refund window).

      Also Ubisoft accounts are generally widely available. Steam just pulled this game from 170 countries due to the game no longer being playable there due to lack of PSN access.

  • My friends are trying to get me to play the game, I told them I wouldn't because I've been boycotting Sony ever since the rootkit controversy. Sony really hasn't changed since way back then, they want to tightly control your use of the things you buy from them.

  • We are altering the deal. Pray we don't alter it any further.

  • Time to kick a game off the wishlist. It's way too long already anyway, a little cleanup is in order.

    • Currently rated "overwhelmingly negative" on Steam. I've never seen that before.

      • You have never checked out "Hunt Down the Freeman", aka "Hunt down the Refund"?

        By now, the reviews are mostly trolling, but trust me, it IS the worst game currently available on Steam.

  • I seem to remember that when I first launched the game shortly after release I had to link my PSN account.
  • Not only was this a bad deal for anyone in over 100 countries where there IS no way to create a valid PSN account to play the game they purchased .... but the entire thing was "bait and switch".

    Can you even use the Playstation Network without paying annual/monthly subscription fees to do so? As far as I know, you can't. So Windows PC gamers buying Helldivers 2 didn't expect to or want to be forced to pay for a subscription service primarily geared towards console owners, to use the game they purchased.

    There

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