The Helldivers 2 debacle has gone from bad to worse. The best-selling co-op shooter has been pulled from Steam's online marketplace in 177 territories in the wake of Sony's controversial new update requiring PC players to connect their Steam account to a PlayStation Network account.
Earlier this week, publisher Sony announced that all Helldivers 2 PC players would need to link to an active PlayStation Network account or eventually lose access to the game. While it launched back in February with the PSN and Steam link requirement, this mandate was removed after Helldivers 2 blew up and servers collapsed. But starting May 6, new Helldivers 2 players on PC will once again be required to connect their Steam account to a PSN account. By June 4, everyone currently playing the game will need a linked PSN account.
The mandate has been met with widespread outcry and thousands of negative user reviews hitting the once widely popular shooter. One gaping problem is it's not possible to make a PSN account in some of the countries and regions where Helldivers 2 was being sold on Steam. Presumably to address this, Sony went on a delisting spree ahead of tomorrow's deadline where new players must link a PSN account. Now Helldivers 2 is no longer available to purchase on Steam in 177 regions around the world where PSN isn't available, according to listings from Steam Database.
Helldivers 2 is no longer purchasable in 177 countries where PSN is not available (but some are still available like Baltics).This game has now received 215,000 negative reviews. pic.twitter.com/jJrb9QFafRMay 5, 2024
It remains unclear if existing Helldivers 2 owners will be able to continue playing if they live in unsupported regions. Typically Steam only issues refunds if a player has played a game for less than two hours. However, Steam has apparently been making an exception for Helldivers 2 since the PSN requirement came months after launch, issuing refunds to several long-time Helldivers players with more than 100s of hours of playtime, GamesRadar reports. So if you've already logged plenty of playtime in Helldivers 2, you could still get your money back if it becomes no longer playable in your region.
Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Studios has made it clear that Sony is solely responsible for this new mandate, with several community managers encouraging players to review bomb Helldivers 2 to send a message to the publisher. Recently, Arrowhead responded on X (Twitter) with CEO Johan Pilestedt suggesting that people contact PlayStation support if they have questions.
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