cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/14764738
Helldivers 2 Players Express Frustration On Steam As It Will Soon Require A PSN Account
Yeah i’m not linking my account to PSN.
- April 2011: Hackers Access Personal Data of 77 Million Sony PlayStation Network Users
- May 2011: Personal Details on 25 Million Sony Online Entertainment Customers Stolen
- June 2011: Sony Pictures Website Hacked, Exposing One Million Accounts
- November 2014: Hackers Steal 100 Terabytes of Data from Sony Pictures
- August 2017: Hacker Group Accesses Sony Social Media Accounts
- September 2023: Sony Investigates Alleged Hack
- October 2023: Sony Notifies Employees of Data Breach
Ah, that explains why all of my accounts disappeared…
Didn’t think this was real at first read. But holy fudge it it is… Game is now being review bombed on steam. Here’s an additional article from Gaming on Linux:
The review chart is hilarious.
Doubt Sony or the developer expected this would happen.
Edit [May/04, 14h UTC]: Updated chart. More than 70k negative reviews already.
thanks for sharing the chart! I doubt they Sony takes a hint from this too, but it certainly shows other developers and publishers something about signing contracts with Sony…
Sony should take the hint. Many of these reviews are from people who can’t even get a PSN account in their country. So Steam is about to be flooded with requests for refunds due to the game not being available to some users. I already asked for a refund because of this.
It’s unlikely steam will be able to tell people to just pound sand, so Valve will likely step in at some point and then Sony will be in trouble with the platform itself.
Yup. I have a feeling Valve will like usual be on the side of their customers.
as long as still they make money from it, and people already paid for the game, no they will not.
Although the Steam page for HELLDIVERS 2 has clearly stated since release that a PlayStation Network account is required, you actually haven’t had to link them. That will change really soon.
So if it were clearly written on the Steam page, I don’t really get the complains.
So if it were clearly written on the Steam page, I don’t really get the complains.
It was optional for several months and the info on the PSN page contradicted that, so there was a lot of room for confusion.
Not surprisingly that PSN page was edited earlier today, but there’s a million screenshots floating around already, plus you can check the previous version in the Wayback Machine.
And even if it was clearly written on all places, it’s still a “too bad you didn’t read the fine print, now you’re past the limit time for a refund, so either let Sony track you or lose access to the game” situation which is very shitty. There’s also the fact that they sold the game to people in countries where is PSN is not available, which should not have happened if that requirement was going to be enforced in the future.
Not hard to see why people would get pissed and lose trust in the developer. I also think that players have been annoyed for a while with this type of requirement (not specifically in this game), and they are now getting a good outlet with a lot of publicity around to vent about it.
That makes much more sense now. I was also wondering why people didn‘t pick up on it earlier given the incredible popularity of this game. So of course people noticed it, but it just didn‘t make much sense. I can see why someone would shrug it off a messy bit of text that probably wasn‘t supposed to be there and will be removed or edited or something. Well edited it was… just not as expected I guess.
There’s also the problem that they’re clearly rushing this without much thought, they don’t even have an answer to the obvious question of “what happens to people in regions not supported by PSN”.
Who the fuck reads the entire steam page? My friend says buy the game, the reviews say it’s great with friends, you go and buy the game not scan the steam page for predatory data hoarding policies.
On top of the fact it was (more or less) turnkey. It worked. For months. Why would you look at the page when it works? If it was like that from the start, it would be different.
“But the plans were on display…”
“On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.”
“That’s the display department.”
“With a flashlight.”
“Ah, well, the lights had probably gone.”
“So had the stairs.”
“But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.
— Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Love this! 🙌 Just started listening to the Audiobooks.
You mean the radio show, I hope?
Looks like the web archive is down for me atm. As long as you can hear multiple voice actors and sound effects, you’re at the right place.
This is the one narrated by the one and only Stephen Fry <3
By clearly stated, they mean, in small letters further down on the steam page that nobody reads. Just like a cheeky terms of services…
Just like a cheeky terms of services…
check both EULA links on the steam page. Nothing about this is in either (even now). So it’s literally just the banner.
I can personally see it on the steam page, underneath controller support section.
Yes. That would be the banner I’m talking about.
oh right, i misread what you wrote mb
So, at first install, I actually linked my account to a PSN account that I knew was banned due to a charge back on an unwanted purchase. At the time, I figured if I discovered that I can’t play because my account is banned from PSN, I’d just refund on Steam. I feel I’ll be very justifiably pissed if my account is now banned from playing retroactively, long after the refund window.
This is the point of contention I am curious about. If Sony can be the one to kick you off the game that you bought on Steam and you don’t get refunded for it, I will review it negatively. Let me know what happens after the update forcing PSN.
As of today, I am still able to log in. The next point I’m concerned about is the 30th, so we’ll be waiting a while, but I’ll do my best to update.
I presume you will have heard, Sony/Playstation has announced it will reverse on the PSN linking mandate.
This feature doesn’t affect me personally, but it is still very scummy to add it after launch. Long after refund window is out of the question.
Well, it affects me in that now I know not to buy this game and support such a scummy practice.
Is the game developer involved or is it just Sony doing Sony there are some things that there are some things that don’t things?
“this step will help us continue to build a community that you are all proud to be a part of”
Someone is selling ad data from this, not entirely sure if it’s Sony or dev or both
The developer is involved. Though it’s pretty obvious that the push for this is from Sony, they are the publisher for the game.
The developer is involved to the extent that they have to do what Sony says. The CEO of Arrowhead even tweeted that people should email Sony, referring to a Playstations own website where it stated that PSN is optional. Sony then quickly changed their web page to say it’s sometimes required.
From my point of view this is all Sony.
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Yeah but it seems like they were not expecting this change just based on their responses on social media, and it looks like Sony didn’t even “require it” until just recently. So I just wanted to know.
A change like this may warrant special exceptions to the refund rules. Steam has made exceptions for similar changes to games made after launch in the past.
It wasn’t added after launch. You could bypass it. Now they are changing that.
That’s true. Personally though, it not being optional for any amount of time just shows that there’s no good argument to have it be mandatory in the first place.
By feature I just mean it being mandatory now
They sold this game in dozens of countries where you can’t make a PSN account. That right there is what pisses me the fuck off. Complete horseshit to do that to people.
PSN doesn’t care if you lie and just choose your nearest supported country.
They literally do care: https://www.ungeek.ph/2018/09/pinoy-gt-sport-player-disqualified-from-gran-turismo-world-tour-2018-due-to-technicality/
It might not affect most people as they won’t get caught, but Sony absolutely cares when you’ve given them false information. I’d much rather get my refund than be at the mercy of Sony who can be pretty liberal with the suspensions.
One of my friends made the mistake of linking his PSN account right when he started playing Helldivers 2 then shortly found he was banned from the game. After he did some digging, he found his PSN account was banned for “suspicious activities” despite having not used it in over a year. After even more digging he eventually finds out it was because when they kept charging him for their premium service and he was trying to cancel it, they wouldn’t remove his payment information. He checked multiple times with them and they said they did.
Next payment period rolls around and they charge him for another year of service all the same. He tries to get it refunded, he talks to them about how they said they removed the payment info and it’s nothing but “well there’s nothing we can do about it now” type bullshit. So he goes to his bank and did a charge back on the annual fee, since they keep insisting it’s impossible. Wouldn’t ya know it suddenly it’s very easy to remove his payment info, cancel that premium service, and take care of everything.
All of this was done about a year prior, and he left his account untouched since fuck Sony and PlayStation at that point. I guess they waited until his account was active again being used for a game for them to suddenly realize they really don’t like his charge back and deactivate his account entirely, blocking access to everything linked to it, including Helldivers 2.
Their terms of service specifically say if you spoof your location or do not sign up in your country you will subject to review and punishment. Aka permabanned
It actually does, it’s something people get their accounts banned over.
As a PlayStation user, I’d be pissed if I needed to use a steam login.
Maybe not if you could cross play.
To many cheaters on PC
Well that’s certainly one way to kill a game. Heck, I HAVE a PS5, and I still would be annoyed as fuck by that.
Sure, you can offer to link an account for things like progress tracking. But it certainly shouldn’t be forced on anyone.
Why would people not trust putting any info and linking their Steam account to a company with a history of at least 8 hacks + 5 massive data breaches? I wonder. 🤔
Please, anyone who reads this, stop posting links to the mobile version of Wikipedia. It doesn’t switch automatically on PC, and I see it happen all the time. Just take the half a second to remove the “.m” from the beginning of the link, save everyone else from the pain of having to be surprised by it and taking the time to do it themselves.
Is deleting 2 characters from the URL really causing you pain?
You even have a keyboard and mouse! It’s like less than 2 seconds to correct
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Well my PSN account is banned so am I just fucked? Lol what a joke
Well if you link it, you will “gain the right to appeal a ban”.
(This is not a joke it’s in the actual announcement from sony)
If that’s the only problem, can’t you make a new one?
Yeah I’m not making a 49th account to play a game I bought with my steam account. That’s just another attack vector for me to deal with. Especially when I’ve been playing on my steam account just fine. Not to mention, my PSN credentials have already been hacked from PlayStation once before after the account was banned. Someone was trying to login to it. So why the fuck would I trust them a second time? Its just more data to leak that’s mine.
FWIW, no need for it to be an attack vector if you just use one of those throwaway email services to sign up for a PSN account you’ll never use anywhere else.
And sony could mandate that the email be a real email, and if you get caught the account gets banned. Congrats, now you invented a game of whack a mole!
Could just make a throwaway account with Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, what have you, then. No real/personally identifiable information attached.
Not saying I agree at all with what Sony is doing, but anyone who is concerned about their email/personal information getting leaked by something they didn’t want to sign up for, there are options to protect yourself.
@Stovetop @bitfucker why should people accept it though? They could play just fine without, why should they accept having to create an additional account and having to log into it every time they play the game? Of theres no shitstorm, this wont stop and might be done by other studios/publishers too
They shouldn’t.
I am just saying, if the concern is about putting your email on another service, then don’t put your email. You can use a throwaway one if you just want to get through it and play, or if it’s a matter of principle and you don’t want to, that’s cool too.
Just offering my 2 cents on keeping personal information safe on the web. It’s often unsafe to put all your eggs in one basket and email is no exception, so having some “burner accounts” on hand can help.
I would love to see Valve allow refunds. This was not an agreed upon stipulation at the time of purchase. If they pull the game from you now so soon after purchase, is it not grounds for a refund? Give Sony the choice to backtrack or lose money.
It’s been on the steam page since day one, so I doubt they’d refund. It was agreed upon but not enforced until now.
By reading this comment you agree to pay me $1,000.
Uhh have an upvote instead.
No problem, I have too many shrute bucks anyway. It will arrive in a fortnight.
It also prompted for a login at the start
Man it’s such a shame. I was looking forward to trying it, but I’m not going to create a psn acc for it
The game is very repetitive, anyway. I was bored after about 20 hours. By then you’ve already seen everything there is to see.
Every game is repetitive, it comes down to whether the repetition is entertaining. It wasn’t for you but for a lot of people it is. It is trending downward according to Steam stats but it still has around 60-70k concurrent players during the low points and in terms of hours played it’s be in the top 10 games.
Personally while the overall mission structure is “repetitive” I think the randomization of mission parameters, how the mission play out and the spectacle make it very fun. I would still be playing if not for the Sony shit. It’s a great game to peace out with friends.
More stuff is coming / is already out. It’s actually a really well done implementation of a live service game which I never thought I’d say about anything. That does mean it has a shelf life though and the live service won’t last forever, which is a bummer. I’m curious what they’ll do with it once they’re finished actively managing the war story. Maybe hand it over to an AI in 2-3 years.
Hmm well I played on and off for about a month and didn’t notice anything new.
Do you know if they plan on adding some new game modes? I’m already sick and tired of the whole “shoot bugs, rescue hostages/blow up objective, shoot more bugs then extract” thing. I get that a lot of shooters have a tendency to only have 2-3 game modes max, but those games at least have PvP to keep things interesting.
Not sure. I do know new creatures are planned and coming, and player vehicles are planned. I haven’t played in a couple weeks though so I’m not sure what all is out and what’s still cooking.
Agreed. Fun with other people. Boring as fuck solo.
I’m guessing you have an Origin, EA and Microsoft account though? Along with Steam, Epic, Gog and what else?
EDIT: lol at all the downvotes with zero explanations 🤣
At least you use those for other games, what are you using your PSN acc with no PlayStation for?
I don’t have any of those, except steam
So what?
I live in one of the grey countries. You can create an account, but Sony offers different stores in different countries, so you have to pick another country. They even sells consoles in many of the grey countries. The biggest issue is that you probably won’t be able to buy anything without extra hustle because your card is not issued in the country of your PSN account. Also, this is technically against their ToS. But you can create an account to play Helldivers 2.
With that said, I can’t speak for all countries. Maybe somewhere it’s really impossible to create an account without VPN.
I live in a gray country as well. It’s like this for a lot of products. And a lot of websites block you too. Everything here is more complicated
The baltics and the balkans never get a break.
As if having been oppressed by orcs is not enough.
Shit, they were both oppressed forever. The byzantines for the Balkans and the northern crusade and the teutonic order against the Balts come to mind.
Now the Japanese want to being their reign of terror with restrictive game accounts!
thanks for sharing!
Trying to refund it, although pretty low chance since it’s well past the window. But that’s part of what makes it so bullshit to bring this in long after that window closed. I’d have refunded the game on the spot if it actually required the account creation from the get go. I refunded Red Dead 2 after it turned out to require a Rock Star account. Fortunately that was apparent on start up so I just quit and refunded.
Looks like Nintendo and Sony are competing who can get away with being a bigger asshole. Boundary testing sociopaths. Game becomes popular, dev and publisher foist unpopular requirement to continue playing in order to see what the response is and if it doesnt tank numbers too much, they now have a green light to weasel this into other games. Hell even if it does tank numbers, they already have their money and you probably wont be able to get a refund at this point.
Yeah, but I can get a refund for Days Gone which I haven’t played yet AND I can not buy as many of snoy games as they can publish from now on.
People have been remarking that numerous countries are unable to join PSN and this will lock them out of the game. But can someone explain to me how that could be true? Are they literally not on the drop-down menu for selecting your country?
Yes. PSN is only available in about 70 countries (out of 190). E.g. in the entire continent of Africa only one country has access.
Even some members of European Union don’t get PSN.
One of the Arrowhead community managers said they’re trying to get more information regarding regions, so it kinda seems like they weren’t fully prepared for this/got blindsided by Sony a bit. There should be an FAQ/QA with additional info coming soon.
Evidently that is the case.
