The devs that made Helldivers MUST have been aware of Sony's mandatory PSN policy. This is just a sob story and throwing Sony under the bus at this point.
This would have been less of an issue if it remained enforced from the start. Re-enforcing it after demonstrating it clearly works without makes it look scummy and greedy. People could also easily refund if they didn't agree. Now its too late.
For a lot of people it now looks as: now that the game is a success we want to collect everybody their data as well so we can make even more money.
Tbh, other games just require a 3rd party account without linking them explicitly. This requires an actual link which ( likely ) gives them access to a lot of your steam information which you'd rather NOT give to a corp that doesn't seem capable at guarding people their data.
People can still get a refund. It just has to be manually reviewed and deemed justified instead of just being okayed by the automated system.
That is true, but it I'd an additional hurdle.
Sony is playing it smart.
They made an announcement and had a bunch of Outrage now. If they had just enforced it people would have refunded on mass probably. Now people can still actually play.
I'm guessing steam might be less eager to refund when the actual deadline hits. I also feel like a lot of people will just cave and link/create the account.
That's definitely what Sony is expecting.
And it's also what I'm hearing from friends. That they dont want to, but that it's a fun game ans they'd rather keep playing with friends.
The thing is that it was enforced right at the beginning. There was a period where you couldn't play without a PSN account, before they made it optional while Sony rolled out more infrastructure to handle the player numbers.
It's an issue now because it wasn't stated clearly enough and loudly enough that not having a PSN account was only temporary, and I think Arrowhead screwed up because they didn't know that PSN accounts aren't available everywhere and so were selling the game in places that couldn't play it unknowingly.
Steam is usually pretty good about refunds and has apparently already pulled the game from the store in places where you can't make a PSN account, so I imagine they're planning to refund the game. This looks like the kind of thing that could be class-action lawsuit worthy.
The thing is that it was enforced right at the beginning. There was a period where you couldn't play without a PSN account, before they made it optional while Sony rolled out more infrastructure to handle the player numbers.
That's what I heard as well. I was a bit dumbfounded when I read that it suddenly became mandatory.
I think Arrowhead screwed up because they didn't know that PSN accounts aren't available everywhere and so were selling the game in places that couldn't play it unknowingly.
I think this is the most plausible reasoning. It's what I'm thinking as well, and also what seems to appear through the CM. In which case it is a screwup on their end. Though in 2024 I do get you'd expect people to be able make an account anywhere in the world for a company like Sony.
Steam is usually pretty good about refunds and has apparently already pulled the game from the store in places where you can't make a PSN account, so I imagine they're planning to refund the game. This looks like the kind of thing that could be class-action lawsuit worthy.
If they did that's good on them, but not wholly their responsibility. It is a good move to prevent new purchases they'd have to refund anyway ( or until there is clarity on what will happen in those regions ). I would kind of expect the publisher to do this once they figured out this was possible though :/
I've had three refund requests rejected so far (~10h playtime).
You have to put in an actual support ticket. There's examples of people who wrote something like "The publusher is forcing me to sign up to a 3rd party and I do not consent"
Re-enforcing it after demonstrating it clearly works without makes it look scummy and greedy.
Day 1 policy was that PSN linking was mandatory. Arrowhead execs knew this. Players who bought the game in non-PSN countries should have gotten a pop-up banner saying as much instead of the payment screen.
Im not even sure if the game would have taken off at all. Psn servers couldn't handle the load which is Why it was disabled ( temporarily ) in the first place.
A lot of people, including myself, never even linked the psn because I could skip it.
Sony bailed them out when their servers went down in February by sending engineers to assist. It makes sense that Sony wants a favor in return.
Sounds like a mobster kind of favor. If that is true, then it sounds like Sony took advantage of Arrowhead weakness.
In what world is that a mobster deal? The game initially released saying that PSN accounts were required, this is in every store front description. The devs clarified that was not enforced due to technical issues at release time.
Sony funded the game in the first place too. They didn't take advantage of a moment of weakness. This is all contract stuff agreed upon long before release.
It absolutely sucks ass, but this is an incredibly basic business deal. Sony stepped in to provide server support because it's Sony's game, and Sony makes money off it. Now that the game is more stable, they likely went back to Arrowhead and said "Hey, it's time you sorted out the contracted requirement for PSN accounts. You agreed to this." and here we are.
Maybe Sony told Arrowhead that PSN accounts could be made by everyone. Maybe Arrowhead thought they could push back on the requirement after the game came out without them required. We likely will never know what went on behind closed doors.
But this isn't shady, just absolutely monumentally fucking shitty.
Unfortunately, as long as refunds are handled reasonably well like they were with Cyberpunk 2077's PS4 release, gamers won't really have a leg to stand on. It'll just be complaining that they can't play something they wanted to play, after getting a number of hours in it for effectively free.
Sony announcing the PSN requirement without detailing what unsupported country purchasers should do is at least nearly shady. Dumbasses
Or... think like an adult.. they have support contracts in place.
Why do you care that a company as scummy as Sony is getting thrown under the bus? Outside of this fiasco Helldivers was a pretty great game. If throwing Sony under the bus gets this decision reversed literally EVERYONE wins, and honestly, as the Publisher, thats probably one of the things that comes with the title, taking the heat for shitty ass decisions that could otherwise tank a game
My argument here is that Arrowhead is not some great dev that is helpless.
I didn't think that's necessarily true. They were contracted to make the game by Sony and when they started probably had no idea it would even be sold on PC.
The devs that made Helldivers MUST have been aware of Sony's mandatory PSN policy. This is just a sob story and throwing Sony under the bus at this point.
This would have been less of an issue if it remained enforced from the start. Re-enforcing it after demonstrating it clearly works without makes it look scummy and greedy. People could also easily refund if they didn't agree. Now its too late.
For a lot of people it now looks as: now that the game is a success we want to collect everybody their data as well so we can make even more money.
Tbh, other games just require a 3rd party account without linking them explicitly. This requires an actual link which ( likely ) gives them access to a lot of your steam information which you'd rather NOT give to a corp that doesn't seem capable at guarding people their data.
People can still get a refund. It just has to be manually reviewed and deemed justified instead of just being okayed by the automated system.
That is true, but it I'd an additional hurdle. Sony is playing it smart.
They made an announcement and had a bunch of Outrage now. If they had just enforced it people would have refunded on mass probably. Now people can still actually play.
I'm guessing steam might be less eager to refund when the actual deadline hits. I also feel like a lot of people will just cave and link/create the account.
That's definitely what Sony is expecting. And it's also what I'm hearing from friends. That they dont want to, but that it's a fun game ans they'd rather keep playing with friends.
The thing is that it was enforced right at the beginning. There was a period where you couldn't play without a PSN account, before they made it optional while Sony rolled out more infrastructure to handle the player numbers.
It's an issue now because it wasn't stated clearly enough and loudly enough that not having a PSN account was only temporary, and I think Arrowhead screwed up because they didn't know that PSN accounts aren't available everywhere and so were selling the game in places that couldn't play it unknowingly.
Steam is usually pretty good about refunds and has apparently already pulled the game from the store in places where you can't make a PSN account, so I imagine they're planning to refund the game. This looks like the kind of thing that could be class-action lawsuit worthy.
That's what I heard as well. I was a bit dumbfounded when I read that it suddenly became mandatory.
I think this is the most plausible reasoning. It's what I'm thinking as well, and also what seems to appear through the CM. In which case it is a screwup on their end. Though in 2024 I do get you'd expect people to be able make an account anywhere in the world for a company like Sony.
If they did that's good on them, but not wholly their responsibility. It is a good move to prevent new purchases they'd have to refund anyway ( or until there is clarity on what will happen in those regions ). I would kind of expect the publisher to do this once they figured out this was possible though :/
I've had three refund requests rejected so far (~10h playtime).
You have to put in an actual support ticket. There's examples of people who wrote something like "The publusher is forcing me to sign up to a 3rd party and I do not consent"
Day 1 policy was that PSN linking was mandatory. Arrowhead execs knew this. Players who bought the game in non-PSN countries should have gotten a pop-up banner saying as much instead of the payment screen.
Im not even sure if the game would have taken off at all. Psn servers couldn't handle the load which is Why it was disabled ( temporarily ) in the first place.
A lot of people, including myself, never even linked the psn because I could skip it.
Sony bailed them out when their servers went down in February by sending engineers to assist. It makes sense that Sony wants a favor in return.
Sounds like a mobster kind of favor. If that is true, then it sounds like Sony took advantage of Arrowhead weakness.
In what world is that a mobster deal? The game initially released saying that PSN accounts were required, this is in every store front description. The devs clarified that was not enforced due to technical issues at release time.
Sony funded the game in the first place too. They didn't take advantage of a moment of weakness. This is all contract stuff agreed upon long before release.
It absolutely sucks ass, but this is an incredibly basic business deal. Sony stepped in to provide server support because it's Sony's game, and Sony makes money off it. Now that the game is more stable, they likely went back to Arrowhead and said "Hey, it's time you sorted out the contracted requirement for PSN accounts. You agreed to this." and here we are.
Maybe Sony told Arrowhead that PSN accounts could be made by everyone. Maybe Arrowhead thought they could push back on the requirement after the game came out without them required. We likely will never know what went on behind closed doors.
But this isn't shady, just absolutely monumentally fucking shitty.
Unfortunately, as long as refunds are handled reasonably well like they were with Cyberpunk 2077's PS4 release, gamers won't really have a leg to stand on. It'll just be complaining that they can't play something they wanted to play, after getting a number of hours in it for effectively free.
Sony announcing the PSN requirement without detailing what unsupported country purchasers should do is at least nearly shady. Dumbasses
Or... think like an adult.. they have support contracts in place.
Why do you care that a company as scummy as Sony is getting thrown under the bus? Outside of this fiasco Helldivers was a pretty great game. If throwing Sony under the bus gets this decision reversed literally EVERYONE wins, and honestly, as the Publisher, thats probably one of the things that comes with the title, taking the heat for shitty ass decisions that could otherwise tank a game
My argument here is that Arrowhead is not some great dev that is helpless.
I didn't think that's necessarily true. They were contracted to make the game by Sony and when they started probably had no idea it would even be sold on PC.