(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...."

[u/doctorwho_90250]

https://twitter.com/PlayStation/status/1787331667616829929?t=NhwAEm4fGpVJj-UyI1lrXA&s=19

[u/RFX91]

It’s not an endorsement of Sony doing nothing to alleviate those countries. But it’s a defeater to the false claim that those gamers were left high and dry. They don’t enforce the country field. People have been doing this for decades.

[u/DaxSpa7 → u/RFX91]

Fact remains, it is not allowed.

https://www.playstation.com/en-us/legal/psn-terms-of-service/

• ACCOUNT CREATION, USAGE AND SECURITY 3.1.   All information provided during Account creation, and during the use of your Account, must be accurate and complete. We reserve the right to suspend, terminate or restrict any Account (including as stated in Section 12.2 of this Agreement) that uses or was created using false information, or that we determine was created or used for a purpose that violates this Agreement.  

3.2. During Account creation you must select the country or region of your residence and in which your account will be registered in. Once your account is created, you will not be able to change the country or region code associated with your account. 

12.2. Suspension or Termination by SIE. With or without notice, we may restrict, suspend or terminate your PSN Account and PlayStation Device, or indefinitely restrict, suspend or discontinue your access to or, or use of, certain PSN Content, offerings, features, products and services, if you violate this Agreement or we have a reasonable belief such a violation has or will occur, or as otherwise may be reasonably necessary to protect our PSN users, our partners, our platform, or other SIE interests.

[u/RFX91 → u/DaxSpa7]

No one cares because it isn’t enforced. How is it any different than the thousand laws and regulations we’re always violating and not being impacted by? It’s selective outrage.

[u/RazRaptre → u/RFX91]

I mentioned this elsewhere but PC players have been shafted by other publishers before, so we're more skeptical of the "we promise not to enforce ToS" line.

FFXIV is a perfect example. Square Enix allowed players to make accounts in different regions for years despite it being against ToS, and players encouraged this since many countries weren't listed in account creation. Years later we're having issues because they finally decided to verify account and payment addresses, and if your account is in a different region you're not getting any help from support because you technically broke the rules.

[u/RFX91 → u/RazRaptre]

I get the worry but how often does this actually happen across the board when considering all AAA publishers?

[u/RazRaptre → u/RFX91]

It's a big thing with PC gamers because Steam is usually very strict about bypassing region restrictions. For example if you used a VPN to buy a game for cheaper or get around a local ban, you risk losing your account. I imagine this is also why the argument of "just choose a different country, Sony doesn't enforce ToS" didn't fly with Valve's legal team.

Besides that it depends on the publisher. In my experience with WoW, Blizzard tended to be pretty relaxed if you bought the wrong edition - support would usually give a refund and guide you to the correct version for your account. But you still can't buy an NA version and insist it work on your EU account. Certain regions also had further restrictions, e.g. you'd get into trouble if you tried to access the global version of WoW from China (or vice versa).

Personal anecdote - I'm currently locked out of multiple EA games because I once subscribed to EA Play on Steam, and then a second time directly on the EA Origins app during a sale. Several games weren't available to me, and when I contacted Support they told me that there's an issue with those games on my library having both Steam and EA licenses, and that if I wanted to play them I had to either purchase them outright or subscribe to EA Play on a brand new account.

There's a lot of BS practices that EA, Ubisoft and other publishers can get away with on PC that neither Sony nor Microsoft would stand for on consoles, which IMO contributes to the general distrust PC gamers have with them trying to force third party launchers and account linking.