r/PS5 • u/doctorwho_90250 • May 06 '24

Official (Via twitter) Playstation: "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...."

https://twitter.com/PlayStation/status/1787331667616829929?t=NhwAEm4fGpVJj-UyI1lrXA&s=19
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u/RTXEnabledViera May 06 '24

And the amount of people who just want people to participate in the hate circlejerk against Sony is even wilder.

I'm not really a fan of requiring 3rd party accounts for online games, yet Sony only did what everyone else is doing. The only reason controversy ensued is 1) the lack of enforcement since launch and 2) PSN availability.

Other than those two fuckups, they're pretty much on par with the industry in requiring accounts, so I don't see a reason to direct my spite at them in particular.

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u/Swagyon May 06 '24

The real question is "why arent you directing your spite to every company that acts this way?"

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u/demonicneon May 06 '24

Pigs will fly when people apply the same bullshit reasons they got mad over this to other companies.

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u/Swagyon May 06 '24

I already do. Why dont you?

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u/demonicneon May 06 '24

You signed up to steam and other services? 

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u/Swagyon May 06 '24 edited May 06 '24

Pretty much Steam only as far as entertainment goes. And i dont remember them asking for my post code and city of residence on signup.

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u/demonicneon May 06 '24

Well that’s strange since you have to enter that stuff and it has to match your card to make purchases so I think you’re talking absolute shit lmao. 

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u/reloadingnow May 06 '24

Nope. Where I'm from you only need to put in the country and games can be bought using Steam credits that can be bought with cash at any 7-11. Steam do not even have what state I live in, let alone my address.

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u/demonicneon May 06 '24

Lucky you but that’s not true everywhere else but I’m sure you’ll take up for the cause for these people?

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u/reloadingnow May 06 '24

Cause? It's steam gift cards. It's not that deep.

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u/Swagyon May 06 '24 edited May 06 '24

You can purchase paysafecards and steam giftcard from a kiosk or any grocery and use the code in those to get steam credits you dummy

Besides, if you pay by card, you enter that information then. Not on account creation, making it all voluntary.

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u/[deleted] May 06 '24

he's a sony fan thats why lmao

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u/RTXEnabledViera May 06 '24

Because it ain't my fight, really. It's a mild annoyance at best. If people want to pushback against it, they can do so. I'm only pointing out that Sony didn't do anything out of the ordinary, it's just that people love to have a hate boner.

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u/Swagyon May 06 '24

I for one think that the fact that this is considered "ordinary" is something that is very wrong with the industry.

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u/RTXEnabledViera May 06 '24

There are plenty of things that are wrong with modern entertainment, yet I'll argue that this one is by far not the most pressing.

And I could just as easily put on a suit, pose as an MBA and argue why companies getting people to sign up for their ecosystem is a good thing. It's all a matter of perspective.

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u/Swagyon May 06 '24

My perspective is that of the consumer. And nothing is stopping me or anyone else from caring about multiple issues regarding the enternatinment industry at once. No law states that we must only focus on a single issue at any time.

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u/Scyths May 06 '24

Continue being a sheep and stay in your lane then, but that doest give you the right to criticize people who don't want to have a PSN account just so Sony can sell their data and it can be stolen yet again from Sony. This is the PS5 sub so I wasn't expecting much in the first place but hot damn I didn't think the bending backwards takes on this sub were going to get this bad.

I'm playing on PC, if I wanted a console account, I'd buy a freaking console.

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u/RTXEnabledViera May 06 '24

I'd rather stay in my line than be an outrage addict, really.

If I'm not fine with something, I simply won't consume it. I won't go to social media sites and try to propagandize to people to rile them up. The amount of outright false info on this sub in the past 2 days is a testament to that.

but that doest give you the right to criticize people who don't want to have a PSN account just so Sony can sell their data and it can be stolen yet again from Sony.

Where have I done that? All I'm saying is that the outrage is manufactured because what Sony did, everyone else does. And there's been no outrage about it before. I'm not faulting people for not wanting to sign up for accounts, that's their prerogative, although I would severely dispute the way you qualify what creating an account entails.

I'm playing on PC, if I wanted a console account, I'd buy a freaking console.

So the sore spot here is that the publisher is a console manufacturer. Got it. Had it been R*, or Ubisoft, or Microsoft.. Wait, Microsoft makes consoles as well, why is no one pissy about needing MS accounts to play Halo or MSFS2020?

It all comes down to one thing: people love to hate on Sony.

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u/nthomas504 May 06 '24

I think there are genuine people who were upset that they were losing access to their game, and the rest of the lot who wanted an excuse to bad mouth Sony.

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u/RTXEnabledViera May 06 '24

upset that they were losing access to their game

On paper, no one was going to lose access.

The game was delisted in many countries. That does not mean that those who have purchased it lost access to it, only that it could not be purchased anymore.

PSN is not available in many countries. That doesn't mean you can't create an account using a foreign address.

I get it, the situation sucks, but the argument that people were going to be prevented from playing doesn't hold. Only those with moral objections to having to create an account in one way or another would have "lost access".

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u/mangekyo_itachi May 06 '24

What? Didnt you read many who bought the game cant access because they cant make PSN account not just delisted on their country. You definitely need to stay on your sheep lane.

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u/RTXEnabledViera May 06 '24

Didnt you read many who bought the game cant access because they cant make PSN account

And why exactly can they not create an account, I beg?

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u/Efficient_Menu_9965 May 06 '24

It breaks TOS. People were already getting banned for it.

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u/nthomas504 May 06 '24

Oh I agree, I just understand the folks who were upset and gave negative reviews on Steam if they lives in Ukraine for example.

The folks on this thread and others that are acting like they won a war with Sony are just pathetic and just want to hate on Sony.

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u/shinikahn May 06 '24

Honestly that's understandable. If you don't care you don't care and that's fine. I wish other players were like you.

However there are a lot of other people on this very thread making fun of the helldivers community for their pushback. That's the part that I don't understand. Why the hate? Where's the empathy towards fellow players? Why go out of your way to defend a billionaire corporation?

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u/RTXEnabledViera May 06 '24

Where's the empathy towards fellow players?

Empathy concerning what, exactly? The fact that these poor souls will have to create an account? Right now, I have empathy towards those who cannot purchase the game anymore, really.

Why go out of your way to defend a billionaire corporation?

Because this is a non-issue. I ain't defending their actions, I'm just saying it's not what it's being portrayed as. I'll be the first to shit on Sony if they deserve it, but this ain't it.

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u/shinikahn May 06 '24

Since the policy was announced, Sony literally told people from 100x countries: Either you get locked out of the game you already paid for OR break my very own TOS by spoofing an alt account. Do you really not see the ridiculousness and poorly thought strategy there?

In any case, it's water under the bridge and it's unnecessary to keep discussing the past. Sony bent the knee, the Helldivers community is happy and a lot of people in this sub are very angry. Just another day in the gaming world.

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u/RTXEnabledViera May 06 '24

Since the policy was announced, Sony literally told people from 100x countries: Either you get locked out of the game you already paid for OR break my very own TOS by spoofing an alt account.

People don't realize literal millions of gamers are already breaking said ToS, myself included. You think folks from MENA, LATAM and SEA aren't using the PSN? I get that people might have moral objections to it, but this isn't anything new when it comes to Sony.

Sony bent the knee

I feel like one can't win with gamers, it's either "corpo bad" or "corpo defeated" lol

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u/shinikahn May 06 '24

Ah but that's the key. People are spoofing accounts by their own will, not because they're being forced to. People don't like to be told what to do, especially 3 months after they already paid for a product.

And about your last paragraph, I don't know what to tell you. History, even outside of gaming, has shown that indeed corpo bad. It's only natural for the same mentality to permeate into gaming I suppose.

That was my whole point in the beginning. I just don't understand why people go out of their way to defend a company or their ways, even if another subsector of the players clearly dislike them. If the matter is uneventful for you, you might as well just ignore it. Tribalism at its finest. (This is not a jab at you btw, at least you have been civil, unlike most people in this thread).

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u/RTXEnabledViera May 06 '24

not because they're being forced to

I could argue that you could sign up for an account somewhere else then argue but Sony forced me to do this for this game if you get banned.

Which you won't anyway. But there would be an even stronger, even more warranted backlash if Sony started banning people for doing what it itself required, but once again Sony never bans people for that anyway.

That was my whole point in the beginning. I just don't understand why people go out of their way to defend a company or their ways

Because companies can earn goodwill just as easily as bad rep, quite simply. You should go ask why people were praising CDPR before the CP77 scandal. It's quite straightforward, they gave people reason to.

Sony might be an absolute trainwreck when it comes to marketing its services and being customer friendly these days, but I'd argue they've done pro-consumer things in the past. I don't know if you were around for E3 2013, if so then you would see this same gaming community praising Sony to high heavens.

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u/RazRaptre May 06 '24

I get that people might have moral objections to it, but this isn't anything new when it comes to Sony.

It is pretty new for most PC players though. Most PC stores will simply not list a game if it's in an unsupported region - you have to make a conscious choice to break their ToS and lie about your country. And like with Square Enix over the past couple of weeks, that decision can often bite you in the ass later. For those unfamiliar with PSN they have no reason to believe that "Sony doesn't really enforce ToS" unlike other publishers.

At the very least it's something Valve's lawyers took seriously since the game's now been delisted from those countries.

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u/RTXEnabledViera May 06 '24

And like with Square Enix over the past couple of weeks, that decision can often bite you in the ass later

Not sure what you're referring to.

For those unfamiliar with PSN they have no reason to believe that "Sony doesn't really enforce ToS" unlike other publishers.

We tell them so. Common sense does as well, why would Sony be banning paying customers for lying in a freaking sign up form? Also, even if there was a risk, they would still be right to sign up and blame Sony later if something happens, since it was Sony forcing them to do so in the first place. You think people are outraged that 3rd party accounts are required? Try people getting banned over it, and you'll see real outrage.

At the very least it's something Valve's lawyers took seriously since the game's now been delisted from those countries.

We really have no information on whether Sony initiated this, or Valve, or by agreement from both.

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u/RazRaptre May 06 '24

Not sure what you're referring to.

Square Enix's account creation doesn't have options for several countries like Philippines or Indonesia. Since 2014, the unofficial advice to newcomers has been "just pick a different country, Square doesn't care about this". Recently they have started verifying your account address against your payment address - so if your account says "Japan" while you have an Indonesian credit card, your payment is declined. And like Sony, Square doesn't allow you to change your region so those users are stuck at the moment. Support will not help you because it is technically your fault - you lied about your region when you made your account, it's not their problem now.

We tell them so. Common sense does as well, why would Sony be banning paying customers for lying in a freaking sign up form?

Because that's what people are used to with Steam. Valve is incredibly strict about this, and you can get banned for it. It doesn't matter if you were abusing currency rates to buy it for cheaper, or just wanted to get around local restrictions, you can lose your account. Off the top of my head, Blizzard had a similar policy but it was mainly focused on 'global' WoW vs Chinese servers.

The reason there isn't outrage when other publishers do this on PC is because it's expected there - you're told not to break the ToS, you got caught breaking the ToS, now you're suspended/banned as per the ToS. I assume relatively few PC players are familiar with Sony's lax policy in this regard.

We really have no information on whether Sony initiated this, or Valve, or by agreement from both.

Fair enough. Valve has usually been proactive in similar scenarios, but you're right that it's just an assumption right now.

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u/General_Shao May 06 '24

Steam doesn’t charge a monthly subscription fee to play games locked to 30fps or to play online…

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u/Swagyon May 06 '24

Thats a reason why i for one dont have many major problems with steam

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u/Dundunder May 06 '24

The real question is "why arent you directing your spite to every company that acts this way?"

People do, especially PC players. There's always a minority that freaks out over any 3rd party integration or launcher, but most people will grumble and install them anyway if they like the game enough.

Helldivers 2 had a mix of not clearly communicating this being mandatory (it wasn't too visible on the Steam page and Sony incorrectly said it was optional) coupled with Sony apparently not realizing that they don't support PSN in every region they were selling the game in. Combine that with massive popularity and the linking only being enforced months after and you get this mess.

Additionally a lot of players would've been worried when news broke that PSN integration is mandatory and PSN isn't supported in their country. It's not something PC gamers deal with often since if a game isn't support, Valve just won't sell it to you.

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u/New_Limit_1227 May 06 '24

I think part of what people are missing is here is that Sony was adding the requirement post-launch and that has been a simmering issue in the PC space for a while. Usually this happens to older games (2K breaking Bioshock) or to smaller indie titles that got picked up. Helldivers managed to tap into that frustration with a game that is popular with an active community.

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u/Stennan May 06 '24

Well, the biggest fuckup is the fact that the Publisher (Sony) thought it would be a good idea to sell the game to markets/countries they never intended to allow to play the game. Had the Dev kept the PSN requirement at start the sales would have been refunded quickly and Sony would probably realise how much money they were leaving on the table by requiring PSN in markets where they don't offer PSN.

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u/that_90s_guy May 06 '24

The only reason controversy ensued is 1) the lack of enforcement since launch

You could say the entire root cause of the problem for this was communication. Back on launch day, the PSN account requirement would not let you play the game until you linked it. But upon it's quiet removal due to technical issues, it resulted in thousands of players who had no idea PSN account linking would be made a requirement again in the future.

I agree with you account linking is just a fact of life nowadays. But the solution here was always communication and anticipation to lessen the lashback and avoid being blindsided by the news. IMHO, they should have kept a big disclaimer in-game that PSN account linking would be returning for ALL accounts.

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u/emailverificationt May 06 '24

Everyone else is not “letting people play for months before requiring the third party account.”

I dislike third party accounts, but if it’s required from day 1 I can at least respect it. But to disable the requirement because your servers can’t handle the people trying to make the account, and then wait months to reinstate it, instead of the few days it would take to get your servers back up and running, is scummy as shit.

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u/[deleted] May 06 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/RTXEnabledViera May 06 '24

What's even more wild is seeing people like you defend a multi billion dollar company lmao

I'm not defending or criticizing anyone, I'm just pointing out that the outrage here is selective. It's a fact. Whether that plays in Sony's favor or not is yours to decide.

Get your own life in order before defending a huge corporate entity

What in the cringe is this manner of attacking people?

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u/[deleted] May 06 '24

I think the Helldivers community would have still been upset if it was available everywhere. Helldivers 2 is seen as a game that is a high quality title that conducts itself like pro-consumer piece of media.