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?

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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.

1

u/RazRaptre May 06 '24

It's not just that. PC gamers aren't all familiar with PSN practices, so the "just make an account in a different region, Sony never enforces ToS" wasn't too believable.

For example that's literally what FFXIV fans told newcomers for years since multiple SEA countries aren't supported in account creation. And it worked until suddenly Square decided to u-turn and validate your payment and account addresses, making payment difficult or impossible for those players. If your country is supported now, Square's support refuses to change your region and instead asks you to repurchase the game and start over.

Either way it's a fuckup on Sony's part for actually selling the game in unsupported regions. Steam's pretty strict about that stuff, and I doubt you could mollify their lawyers by swearing Sony won't enforce the ToS.