"PSN isn't supported in my country. What do I do?" Arrowhead CEO: "I don't know"

slaacaa@lemmy.world to Games@lemmy.world – 959 points –
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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.