Helldivers
2
is
facing
some
backlash
on
Steam
as
Sony
announced
that
it
will
soon
be
mandatory
to
link
to
a
PlayStation
Network
account
from
May
6th.

This
has
not
gone
down
well
with
players
who
feel
its
unfair
to
require
a
PSN
account
to
be
created
months
after
the
game
has
launched.
In
fact,
at
the
time
of
writing
there
have
been
over

6,000
negative
reviews
left
on
the
Steam
page,
and
while
not
all
of
them
are
about
having
to
link
a
PSN
account,
the
majority
are.

A
PSN
account
has
actually
technically
been
required
since
day
one.
On
the
game’s
Steam
page
it
clearly
states
that
the
game
“Requires
3rd-Party
Account:
PlayStation
Network”
and
when
you
fire
Helldivers
2
up
it
asks
you
to
link
your
PSN
account.
When
I
got
the
game,
it
was
not
optional.

A
quick
browse
of
SteamDB
indicates
that
the
PSN
requirement
message
was
added
to
the
Steam
store
page
in
December
of
2023,
roughly
three
months
ahead
of
the
game’s
launch.

However,
a
change
was
made
to
allow
players
to
skip
the
linking
step.

According
to
the
news
post
made
on
Steam
which
was
written
by
Sony
Interactive
rather
than
developer
Arrowhead:
“Due
to
technical
issues
at
the
launch
of
HELLDIVERS™
2,
we
allowed
the
linking
requirements
for
Steam
accounts
to
a
PlayStation
Network
account
to
be
temporarily
optional.
That
grace
period
will
now
expire.”

According
to
the
post,
all
new
players
will
require
a
PSN
account
from
May
6.
Currently
players
will
start
to
see
a
mandatory
login
page
from
May
30
and
will
need
to
have
their
account
created
and
linked
by
June
4
to
continue
playing.

Sony
argues
that
account
linking
is
designed
to
help
make
the
game
safer:
“Account
linking
plays
a
critical
role
in
protecting
our
players
and
upholding
the
values
of
safety
and
security
provided
on
PlayStation
and
PlayStation
Studios
games.
This
is
our
main
way
to
protect
players
from
griefing
and
abuse
by
enabling
the
banning
of
players
that
engage
in
that
type
of
behaviour.
It
also
allows
those
players
that
have
been
banned
the
right
to
appeal.”

Many
people
have
pointed
out
though,
that
having
to
create
yet
another
account
with
personal
details
increases
the
risk
of
having
valuable
information
stolen
or
sold.
They
also
rather
rightfully
point
out
that
PSN
has
had
multiple
security
breaches
over
the
years.
Since
2011,
they’ve
had
7
fairly
large
security
breaches.
While
major
companies
face
cyber
attacks
constantly,
Sony
does
seem
to
have
a
poor
track
record
at
protecting
customer’s
data.

There’s
also
another
potential
issue:
not
every
country
in
which
Helldivers
2
actually
has
PSN.
Currently,
the
PlayStation
Network
is
available
in
69
(nice)
countries
around
the
world,
and
while
that
probably
does
cover
the
vast
majority
of
players,
there
are
going
to
be
a
lot
of
people
out
there
who
cannot
sign
up
to
PSN
legally.
For
example,
PSN
is
not
available
in
the
Baltics.

On
the
one
hand,
I
do
feel
that
this
issue
has
been
blown
out
of
proportion
a
tad:
a
PSN
account
is
easy
to
make,
and
realistically
doesn’t
increase
the
risk
of
having
data
stolen
that
much.
Frankly,
if
you
already
have
a
Steam
account,
you’re
probably
also
fairly
active
on
the
Internet
anyway
and
are
at
risk.
And
it
was
very
clearly
stated
that
from
the
start
that
a
PSN
account
would
be
required,
even
if
that
was
not
enforced
at
first.

On
the
other
hand,
I
think
it’s
fair
for
people
to
feel
annoyed
with
this
decision.
While
the
story
page
does
state
account
linking
is
mandatory,
a
huge
swathe
of
the
player
base
joined
the
game
when
linking
was
optional,
and
this
long
after
the
game
launched
they
would
have
fairly
assumed
that
it
was
always
going
to
be
optional.

Perhaps
the
biggest
question
is
why
Sony
want
account
linking.
Presumably,
it’s
for
data
collection
for
both
themselves
and
because
data
is
one
of
the
most
valuable
commodities
in
the
Internet
age.
But
with
the
game
working
just
fine
for
months,
will
the
backlash
be
enough
for
Sony
to
retract
the
requirement
or
will
they
push
through
on
the
assumption
that
the
fire
will
die
down?
Is
this
just
another
case
of
people
creating
a
drama
out
of
something
small,
or
is
there
a
very
legitimate
complaint
to
be
made?