Sony Cancels PSN Account Linking Requirement for Helldivers 2

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Sony Cancels PSN Account Linking Requirement for Helldivers 2

The official PlayStation Twitter account announced that the mandatory account linking for Helldivers 2 PC players wouldn't be implemented.


Helldivers 2 players will no longer be required to link their Steam to a PSN account to continue playing the game.

Helldivers 2 has seen a positive impact on both sales and community support since its release. But the recent PSN account link requirement has left a bad taste in the fanbase's mouth, leading to the game's devastating review bomb on Steam.

The uproar has been so ubiquitous that game publisher Sony decided to finally cancel the linking requirement in another win for democracy. Read the full details below.

Sony Cancels PSN Account Linking Requirement for Helldivers 2

Helldivers 2, a game that has enjoyed unprecedented cross-platform success in recent months, was embroiled in controversy after a May 6 update announced a mandatory PlayStation Network account linking. And less than a week after long apologies and dev talks, Sony's walking back on some of the changes.

This change will hopefully restore some of the good will that the game (and its developers) have worked hard to build. It's worth noting that the change came after thousands of players collectively refunded their copies on Steam, and left the store page with scathing reviews.

Many from the Helldivers 2 team expressed their honest opinons about the account linking controversy online, including Arrowhead's own CEO Johan Pilestedt. In a recent tweet, the creative director stated additional details about the unwarranted requirement, and how the team knew about it months pre-release.

While the requirement was a hugely concerning ordeal, it is unclear whether or not Sony's retraction will bring the same fanbase back. But the people have made their voices heard, and a win is a win.

Why Were Fans Against the PSN Linking Policy?

Many players were turned off from Arrowhead's recent announcement of a mandatory PlayStation Network account link for multiple reasons.

Firstly, the requirement forced non-PSN account holders to create one. Given that hundreds of thousands of players primarily played on Steam, that mean that you had to give Sony your information if you wanted to keep playing a game you already bought.

helldivers 2
Credit: Arrowhead Games

Secondly, Sony has had an unfortunate strong of data breaches and hacks in the past few years. And while the frequency of these incidents has gone down, it's still concerning whenever a publisher forces its players to give them their data.

Just last year, Sony suffered two large-scale leaks that put more than 6000 of its own employees at risk of data theft. RansomedVC, a hacker collective, also claim to have stolen more than 260 GB of proprietary data from the Japanese company, including source code files and Powerpoint presentations that were leaked to the public.

helldivers 2

Lastly, it was in poor taste against the thousands of fans who couldn't legally make PSN accounts due to the countries they were in. Reports of VPN users getting banned also added fuel to the fanbase's ire against the requirement, warranting its eventual cancellation.


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Paul G
Paul started writing game guides and match predictions for ESTNN's editorial team in 2022. Since then, he's covered big-ticket esports events and the latest news on tech and AI.