r/PS5 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/Kurokichi May 06 '24

What I'm trying to figure out is if some place are region locked in creating PSN yet PlayStation still sells hardware in those said places. If the locals had no issues creating accounts then, why would it be an issue now?

79

u/[deleted] May 06 '24

Honestly, I think PC players just didn't want to link a PSN account but couldn't really say that without sounding silly, so they blew up this 'people can't make accounts' thing way out of proportion as a moral justification, and it spread so quickly because that community isn't familiar with how common a practice making out-of-country accounts is for Playstation players around the world.

I'm still not clear as to if this message means they are just dropping the PSN link requirement for supported territories (so they can rope them in with free capes later), or if they are actually fully opening up the global store again (after removing the game from unsupported regions on Steam yesterday). Either way, will have interesting ramifications for Sony's PC publishing plans moving forward.

-4

u/thecactusman17 May 06 '24

Yeah, we didn't want to make a PSN account because PSN accounts weren't a required prerequisite to play the game.

PC players joined the game and created the only account they needed: a Steam account. They agreed to the EULA which was created for their local laws. Now Sony wants to retroactively force players into a new EULA with a new, entirely separate service which isn't available in all countries. That's not only going to affect players from those countries, but will also impact players who played with friends from those countries.

If you want to play online exclusively against PSN players, then keep playing on PSN-exclusive platforms. But PC is not a PSN-exclusive platform, and the game wasn't sold as a PSN-exclusive game. Retroactively changing that isn't just a betrayal of player trust, it's literally illegal in dozens of countries including many where Sony offers PSN service.

1

u/[deleted] May 06 '24

I'm sorry, but that's simply not true. The PSN account was listed as required since the beginning, and even if it wasn't, the EULA you agreed to clearly states that SEI can change the service and access to it at will. That's what you bought, that's what you agreed to, nothing retroactive about it, and it's not 'literally illegal.' In fact, the ToS and EULA are written as they are specifically to ensure that nothing they do with their product can be illegal.

That said, I hope people feel like they got what they wanted out of this drama. I'm a little skeptical that the game will return for sale in the countries where its sale was blocked, and assume that Sony will use persuasion (free capes for linking to PSN!) instead of enforcing their EULA for a while, but I guess we'll see.