Unlikely that he makes one. After the discord fiasco with that ridiculous statement from the community manager (baskcally shit talking a player), he said he's washed his hands of the entire situation and won't even give them the time of day.
Idk where he said that specifically but at this point he basically says he's not being involved in anyway with Helldivers 2 anymore going forward. Deleted all emotes, channels related to it, uninstalled, etc.
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2136022612?t=8h50m55s
"It's easy not to have this (talking about the review bombing)...you just have to not be a dick. Like to be real with you".
Summing things up perfectly as usual.
I don't see much they can do when it's a Sony (the publisher) decision. I'm not exactly knowledgeable on the topic, but it seems like there's little to nothing AH can actually do.
They could have not made it skippable, or put another splash screen stating that this is temporarily skippable and will be mandatory once technical issues are resolved. Make it obvious from the very start instead of just a line in the Steam store page (that people might have doubted due to it being skippable in practice).
Also, probably have community managers that don't antagonize the player base. I'm not sure how almost all posts showing CMs or staff replies tend to be a reply from them that mocks or is hostile to players criticizing their decisions. Other gaming companies would have received much more negative reactions if their CMs and staffs did the same (like Blizzard's "don't you have phones" moment).
[https://clips.twitch.tv/TangentialBashfulFlamingoKAPOW-u0fayVxa0jR8ZcyK](https://clips.twitch.tv/TangentialBashfulFlamingoKAPOW-u0fayVxa0jR8ZcyK) Here you go!
Sad part is they're not alone.
Texas Chainsaw/F13 both had a few CMs who did this exact shit (some of them the same person between games).
DBD has had CMs like this. Its unreal how many surprising games thrust into success have people in CM positions who just should not be a CM. And I say that as someone who has done CM work for Discord and other large communities on a volunteer basis.
Yeah companies like the interaction and exposure of Discord, but they dont want to handle moderating it themselves. Discord requires you moderate your servers so I'm sure some shitty company steps in to employ CMs at low cost. The devs likely dont have any input about Discord moderation, except they have powers themselves, but only use them spread relevant info.
Oh im talking in general; the TCM/F13/DBD CMs have been horrid on their personal twitch streams (and on company streams), they've been nasty in subreddits, on twitter, in discords, w/e. Not ALL of the CMs, mind you, but some. Enough to be noted for all 3 as a trend for their respective devs/publishers.
Oh, you think they are paid? I really, REALLY doubt they are. These are volunteer positions, given to those that have skill and want it. AKA, the tyrant dilemma. Some of the WORST people for a mod role will volunteer. Power hungry assholes with nothing better to do
I wasn’t going to refund personally, but after seeing this I’m heavily leaning towards refunding now.
It’s not in the EULA that we have a Sony account, their own site states we don’t need one, and now we’re being threatened with the deletion of our accounts and super credits that some spent real money on.
https://preview.redd.it/mmat9dhqfayc1.jpeg?width=680&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fcfb4f27a592b7cc93314c4f0c7bac791a36831d
I view it like this - for me this has become my favorite game and the PSN connection is not an inconvenience. From what I have heard, the game sold in something like 200 countries. The issue arises when PSN is only actually available for 73 of the 200, which is a pretty terrible twist. I'm lucky, and am going to keep playing. I don't fault anyone else who quits because of what is happening.
I'd be fine with a repremend and demotion. Something along the lines of "you're now on a leash" would be enough for me. I don't disagree with the "fire him" sentiment. I'm just trying to give more leeway than most are willing to give. I don't disagree with them, I'm just trying to be a little bit more forgiving.
I understand and respect where you're coming from, but this particular CM is constantly under fire from the community due to how he speaks to us he's been given chances and he always goes back to this state. It is clear his communication skills aren't fit for the job he has.
He was supposed to be on a leash after the last time he pulled shit like this. He definitely should not be allowed to speak to the community further at this point at minimum.
Can’t link it because I’m twitch illiterate, but I went to his stream because I wanted to catch some live reaction and managed to check in as he was deleting the Helldivers channel, role, and emotes from everything, telling everyone not to white knight, and that he wasn’t going to give them any more of his breath after how they treated the community. Mind you this was in response to the community manager’s “I thought you were uninstalling” comment moreso than the Sony crap as far as I’m aware.
Yeah, every single one of his takes I have fully agreed with after listening to them fully, even the ones I want to argue with him. IMO, dude is super grounded and understands a lot of stuff.
He's an experienced industry VETERAN who's seen it all and then some. If PirateSoftware has a take on something related to the game industry, it's probably the closest thing to an "objectively correct" take you can get.
Oh, no, it wasn’t toward him, but it really rubbed him the wrong way from the perspective of a dev/community manager-type fella on top of it being, uh, mildly tone deaf. It was that and a few of the other responses that have been making the rounds here that got him to turn a 180 on Helldivers.
Will be a short, saying: "It's shitty behavior. Don't do that" and be will be done with it. Maybe he'll touch on the region blocking Sony should have done as well but I doubt he will tear into Arrowhead before they had tome to give a proper response.
Edit: I stand corrected. Holy shit, he's pissed.
A developer that tries to teach people, particularly those who haven’t code, how to make games. He also does a lot of commentary on modern game development.
Very highly respected game dev, who's worked for major studios including Blizzard and Amazon. He's an advocate for treating employees (especially QA) equally and with respect. Probably one of the most consumer friendly developers around.
He's also an incredibly clever security specialist iirc, with a lot of experience in cyber security. If anyone can explain why this shit is bad for your safety in a clear and concise way, it's him.
He literally used another PC to play helldivers, fed the video to his streaming PC to stream onto twitch/youtube. Just because of the kernel level anticheat. He knows his stuff and he takes precautions, way beyond what a normal person would, because he KNOWS exactly what can go wrong
Being more specific: 20 years as Lead of Application Security at Blizzard Entertainment and Senior Red Team Specialist for Blizzard.
3x black badges from DEF CON.
He's last job was hacking power plants for the United States Department of Energy.
He's a Twitch Streamer that used to work for Blizzard/Amazon as a game dev, and mostly talks about making games and pulling back the curtain of how the gaming industry works.
I doubt that. Tarkov was worse than this. Unless I’ve missed something substantial. Being asked to make and link and account is obnoxious, but it’s sure not ‘$250 that we lied about’ obnoxious.
The biggest problem is those losing access to the game who literally cannot make a PSN account because of region issue. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sony/Arrowhead allows them to continue to opt out. The rest of us are out of luck tho
Yeah that would not fly in the EU. Either way they should give everyone the option to opt-out, with the trade-off of disabled crossplay. If Sony is basing all of this on online play, that would at least make some sense.
It's obviously still bullshit, you can crossplay something like Rocket League and don't require PSN, but that's not their game, so they can't force it.
Given the requirement was posted on the steam page I'm not sure if that one would be blamed on Arrowhead or Valve for allowing people in countries without Playstation Network access to purchase the game.
Like I'm prefectly willing to say Fuck Sony as anyone else, but taking a moment to think about it this one is kinda more on the side of whoever set up that store page. It's been years since I've encountered it, but I'm pretty sure Valve has region restrictions as an option on the store side.
>Sony
That'd be the ones (they distribute and publish the game), not Arrowhead. The game should not have been sold in regions that cannot meet the PSN requirement.
This is what a lot of people seem to be missing. Pretty much any reasonable consumer protection law will state that if you sell a product, and especially if you advertise it working in a certain way, it must perform this way to any person it is sold to.
The steam page clearly shows gameplay, and a reasonable would expect this is what they're buying. It's like selling an electric appliance globally - you advertise how it works but it only comes with a UK power plug. That's great for anywhere that has UK power outlets, but everyone else can't use the product. And you can't tell people they should spend extra money on a power adapter, also considering differences in voltage/frequencies of different power grids. That's an instant entitlement to a refund. It's why games are often region locked at point of sale if the publisher/dev doesn't offer live services in certain countries.
AH/Sony/Steam failed to region lock on Steam, and a small notification on the right side of the store page is in no way a reasonable method of informing consumers that they won't be able to play the game in 2 months time that they're about to buy.
PS customer support says that you can choose an available region for you PSN account as long as the currency can't be a problem for you. So it doesn't seem like they care as long as you just make the account. UK government is where you'll run into issues.
It says the following on the Playstation direct purchase website for the game:
>Do I need a PSN account to play PlayStation games on PC?
>No, you currently do not need a PSN account to enjoy PlayStation Studios games on PC, but you will need a Steam account to redeem your voucher code. Some of our PlayStation Studios titles also offer incentives for linking your Steam and PSN accounts.
https://direct.playstation.com/en-us/buy-games/helldivers-2-pc
Oh wow, direct from the Sony store page. Gonna archive.org it just in case they change it - either they change it before the requirement goes live or there's a false advertising charge in the making.
Edit: https://web.archive.org/web/20240503175627/https://direct.playstation.com/en-us/buy-games/helldivers-2-pc
I feel bad for arrowhead though… they get shit on by their customers every time they change some minor thing about a gun magazine after making an awesome game. Now they’re getting shit on by their bosses and their customers simultaneously. Seems like a tough gig.
They signed the publishing contract with Sony, which means they agreed to the terms Sony is trying to enforce on the playerbase here. They're not absolved.
Eh, they aren't completely innocent here. Dozens if not hundreds of meeting took place to determine the length of Sony's involvement, at some point this came up and arrowhead OKAY'd it. It's not like Sony smuggled this in under some random paragraph in a contract, lawyers looked over these in full and decided that it was fine for this to happen. That said no one should be nasty towards anyone else, but don't be naïve in thinking that arrowhead is a victim here too.
The issue is with letting people play without it for 3 months and then demanding it happens. It is likely there will be a not insignificant number of people refunding the game come end of may. If the number is large enough, maybe it gets recanted, but I doubt it.
>Lawyers looked over these in full and decided that it was fine for this to happen.
You say that like the lawyers give two shits about having to make another account to play the game. They’re just there to make sure the contract or whatever is fair between the devs and the publisher. Not to make sure gamers are accommodated.
If I had to guess, it didn't seem like a big deal at the time to Arrowhead and it was simply shortsighted on their part. Not malicious, just didn't expect the implications of agreeing to it.
While not a victim, I would say they're innocent in this. Just negligent. And the backlash is likely to matter quite a bit here.
That said? 100%, people are just being so wild about it. Though admittedly, I was definitely poking the hornets nest and instigating a little this morning.. So glass houses, and all that.
https://preview.redd.it/w45grd8y4ayc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d234b7526b30e1434ddc23231234fb6dd875d1ae
Here's a screenshot for posterity as well.
What is it with big tech companies and shittification. Do they let the good employees go, because they refuse to pay em well, so only the ones that are happy to be payed for doing a job they are unable to do are left? How does thia happen?
Fun fact, it also doesn't apply to Arrowhead. They explicitly stated *for PlayStation Studios games*. PlayStation Studios is a subsidiary of Sony that oversees their in house development teams. Arrowhead is NOT one of those teams, Sony is the publisher
If you click through the publisher link for Helldivers 2 on Steam, you will find it is referred to as PlayStation Studios(TM), and at the bottom of the Helldivers 2 Steam store page it links to "more games from PlayStation Studios(TM)".
You may be technically correct, but if you are, the best case scenario is that they are negligently misleading some consumers. The worst case scenario is that they're maliciously misleading some consumers. A reasonable person could easily believe this applies. It's not acceptable behaviour.
I genuinely doubt they aren't going to find a workaround/solution for people in countries where PSN isn't available. Like imagine being the execs explaining to shareholders how you successfully prevented people from buying your game.
Probably because Sony believes the community will be more bark than bite.
I'd have to imagine that Sony sticking to their guns would at the very least require them to refund/delist the game in countries without PSN.
Got game on early march, friend got it week earlier than me. Both got pop up.
It only appeared once so its easy to forget. But it def was there for us.
Not to mention there's no way to link an account in-game at the moment. Were it not for the steam page mentioning it you'd never know it was even possible to link a PSN account.
I’ve never had a psn. Day one the pop up said I needed one so I made one, in like 30 seconds
Edit: wasn’t aware that psn is not available in so many countries. That’s a huge bummer and definitely valid.
I'll likely get downvoted for this but the only people that should be pissed about this are the ones that literally can't make an account. The rest seems petty to me, and I have a hard time empathizing - though I get it's a bit frustrating to be rugpulled.
The narrative has changed so fast. At first people were bitching about having to make a PSN account but when they got called out for being idiots they decided to use the people that legitimately can't make accounts as the excuse for why they're mad. I feel bad for those people but for the ones that can make an account but are too lazy to? Screw them. It's funny they're demanding refunds too even though they've probably put hundreds of hours into the game.
Yeah I said the same a few comments down and did get downvoted lol. I agree though, tbh some of these people come off like they’re just spring boarding off the actual issue as a way to dog pile their petty complaints
This.
I would have seen that requirement, and been like "Eh. Maybe I'll do that later". Then I'd never have done it later because I'd just be playing BG3 or something, and I'd never have pushed other people to join the HellDivers.
Heck, I likely would have refunded it, just cause my play time would have been zero.
Edit; In general, the idea of like "I reserve the right to make this suck and cite this as why, whenever I get around to making it suck" is not a good clause to be accepting of. I'd get it if a system changed because a vulnerability was discovered, or a law changed, or best practices required it for some upgrade, or... whatever. But I don't see how PSN makes the game objectively better, and I don't think its legally required suddenly.
This entire thing has the same energy as the employment contract that Arrowhead satirizes. You see it once at the beginning, don't think about it at all because nothing about it shows up in game, and get screwed over by it once the enlister arbitrarily decides it's time to bend you over.
https://preview.redd.it/96i0ibwpy8yc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2e41a5f0448d3ad7d9380ecdb41046b07d3486ff
saw this after I made my negative review
His comment on that (from a clip I saw earlier) was that Arrowhead agreed to have Sony as their publisher, and there would have been meetings where this was agreed upon.
I know it's not you who made this comment so I'm not directly addressing this to you necessarily:
They likely had a lot of meetings with Sony when they made the first game 10 years ago as well
Arrowhead could not have made this game without Sony's involvement unfortunately as they probably have some ownership in the IP or HD1 would probably be on Xbox by now
Le wholesome developers would never push this on the fan base, obviously big bad Sony
For fucks sake, the efforts people go through to continue defending AH. Sony and AH are responsible for this.
Wholesome devs who also got into bed with a suspect Korean banking software dev to use their insanely fringe anti cheat that doesn't actually ban cheaters?
There's something amiss with AH management here.
Who cares? It's arrowheads game when things are good but sonys product when things are bad? No I they are both signing off on this and are both shitty for it.
check [https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2136022612?t=8h50m55s](https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2136022612?t=8h50m55s) lots of inside info that AH is to blame aswell and not just Sony
Saying "it's always been on Steam" is a lousy argument because that's essentially admitting the plan all along was to force users to make PSN accounts while at the same time listing the game on Steam in regions where PSN is not supported
They sold the game knowing months later their players would inevitably lose access.
For me it's more about the feeling of helplessness as I try to flail and grab onto something that isn't there to try, and fail, to lessen the impact. Really gets the blood pumping.
Ya it's not the "gotcha" people defending it think it is. If anything it makes those people look like bootlickers for Sony. This is a rug pull for everyone on Steam who is region locked out of PSN.
Also why are we defending the idea of forcing the consumer to make an account when it is so blatantly obvious not required for literally any functionality? Like when did the community get so okay with this idea?
I think it's a Sony thing, where people strangely give them a pass on shit like this. When EA or Microsoft games required a separate login on Steam players would often get pissed and the universal consensus was always that it was bullshit to have to have a second account. When Sony does it apparently it's not a big deal.
The best way to navigate this whole shit show currently is to make the fact known to Sony that if they go through with this and not update the regions in which a PSN account is required will make a dent in their future bottom line.
I haven’t watched him so I don’t him so well but I’m surprised he’s taking such a stance. There are A LOT of games that require separate accounts and I do recall this being prompted at the beginning of the games launch but delayed only because it was causing networking issues.
I do understand that players who came in after it was delayed would have had no idea about this though and that is unfair. I also understand it is very messed up for those who can’t use PSN in their region. That is very unfair. That alone is worth being upset over.
But if the majority are mad just because you need to create an account I think it’s a result of overall unhappiness with industry trends and recent happenings. Otherwise I find it odd to be so upset about but I’d never argue they don’t have the right to be.
He is coming from the angle of being an indie game developer that has created his own game studio. He has been fighting against what publishers have been pulling for years. And has probably personally made the types of sacrifices he is mad at Arrowhead for not making to keep this from happening. I think this hits pretty personal for him.
The issue is that during these months on it not being enforced. It was knowingly sold in countries where you can't create a PSN account. If you use a VPN to create said account you get banned from accessing the game. So anyone from the 70 or so countries where they can make an account is fine and the other 100+ countries are completely screwed. Even when first logging in at release you could skip the process of linking your account it wasn't enforced at any point.
Plus: apparently the PSN requirement isnt even in the EULA currently.
A banner on a steam page is not exactly legally binding.
So well see whether they change their EULA - otherwise there might actually be room for legal action.
You can wish list games from the Steam main page and buy directly from your wish list. It is possible to buy a game without ever seeing those "requirements".
He also has a massive social media presence on Youtube, Twitch, and Twitter, *and* has played Helldivers extensively from launch until now, because now he has completely washed his hands from the game in response to this.
This is huge.
Pirate Software is the Developer of Indie Heartbound, but that probably isn't where you know him from his time at Blizzard as Senior Red Team Specialist (basically a he was the person who helped gind weak spots in the code that could be exploited by hackers), he directly worked on StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, Diablo III, and World of Warcraft. He then went to work at Amazon game studios and then the Department of Energy, he then went on to focus on his passion project Heartbound, He also runs a Youtube channel where he talks about the games industry, things he did at blizzard, and other things. He is also a three time of DEF CON's Black Badge which is insane.
He is a highly respected game dev, having made the hit indie game Heartbound as well as doing a lok of work for Blizzard (back when it was still respectable). He has become a popular content creator and has done a lot of vods with him playing Helldivers.
The amount of ignorant people today acting like this is a non issue is astonishing. People that have been playing the game for months with no issue suddenly aren’t going to be able to anymore because of Sony corporate greed and apparently it’s their own fault, hilarious. Even if Sony and AH work out a fix for this it isn’t just going to go away, lost a lot of goodwill with this decision.
It's not about security. It's about boosting their numbers. If it was about security, they wouldn't have kernel level permissions AND they wouldn't need an account. Fuck the bootlickers.
Donning my tinfoil hat but:
One of the known bugs is Ukrainian language not working on it
Sony hacks being linked to Russia- they know how to exploit the system.
Kernel level anti cheat
Swedish publishers
Sweden just joined nato
Yeah but according to others we're just whining about the time to set up an account. Fucking morons.... And the CEOs response was so empty and passive aggressive that it legit makes me even angrier.
Sadly, most people in the world seem to actively be ok with getting fucked around
And yeah. This ceo sucks. He’s been dishonest in almost all communications I’ve seen of his. A very good bullshitter
Which like... Just speaks on the current state of gaming in 2024 where it's ALL about the profits and numbers and not the player experience. These devs have demonstrated they know less about the player experience than they do about character design (the armor steadily has been getting uglier and uglier) and about how to make a secure game.
Oh, Ubisoft is rubbing their hands together right now. "Told em to get used to not owning your games."
Man, this is terrible. I never even thought about them allowing people to buy the game, knowing that psn isn't in their country. So, if the linking was implemented at launch, would they still be selling the game to people in those countries? That is wild as hell..
Arrowhead made it optional so people could play the game. It’s not their decision, and they said that they’re trying to figure out a solution for those who can’t have PSN accounts due to where they live.
How about everybody stops freaking out for a few days and sees what happens? When we see the solution, then you can all resume freaking out. But reviewbombing and harassing Arrowhead employees is not the move.
100% with him. This was not a requirement and is being made one retroactively. This is bait and switch as they know for a fact if they made this mandatory from the beginning the sales wouldn't have been what they were across the board. Word of mouth really pushed this game over the edge and they just wouldn't have had that same support if this was actually required. False advertising at its scummiest.
"Supports Linking to Steam Account" is misleading because it sounds like it's saying the game supports it, not PSN(which as far as I'm aware you can't link PSN to your Steam, just to individual PC games).
I mean….im not sure “but they weren’t enforcing it” is a great argument.
I’ve got my fingers crossed that someone at AH is angrily on the phone to Sony convincing them to go back on it- that seems to be the best way for this to end realistically (unless they’re hoping to weather the storm, but that’ll be near minimum until early next month before something distracts the community again, which is quite a long time to get review bombed by the PC crowd)
Give your data to Sony it will be safe…
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
Also, can someone prove that the screenshot from the store page is not recent because I do not recall seeing it weeks ago.
Damn... when you've lost Thor, you've definitely fucked up.
Also, Thor is not just "some gamer guy so he cares what he thinks?" I'm gonna do you a favor, look up his history, it's very public. If there was one streamer I could think of who knew what he was talking about when it comes to things like this, it would be him.
I have yet to see him be on the wrong side of anything. Dude thinks through everything before he says something and is incredibly grounded, he’s not your average streamer.
Thor's a chill guy, [this clip here](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VAWwtjtRM98) made me think: "Wow this is not only a really good guy, but also pretty smart."
I've been doing similar jobs as him for a while now, and his takes on things really made me think. I like him, he seems pretty cool but will absolutely call someone out when they're being a dick, especially if they're being a dick AND inefficient about it.
As I was preparing to buy HD2 I did what I always do, I read the requirements.
I saw the requirement for a PSN account and thought it's a little odd, but I accepted that as part of the deal then hit the purchase button.
It did always say this. It might not have always been necessary because they turned it off for a period of time to deal with the unexpected surge in uptake that caused difficulties in implementing it. That doesn't matter, it was always the plan. It was there for people to read.
Always read product requirements. Vendors put them there so that the consumer is appropriately informed.
That's the issue, people don't read.
Now, some people have said that they never got the message which should be investigated, but anyone who clicked skip just didn't read/think about what it was saying which is why we are here now.
People of Earth, your attention, please. This is Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz of the Galactic Hyperspace Planning Council. As you will no doubt be aware, the plans for development of the outlying regions of the Galaxy require the building of a hyperspatial express route through your star system. And regrettably, your planet is one of those scheduled for demolition. The process will take slightly less than two of your Earth minutes. Thank you. ... There’s no point in acting surprised about it. All the planning charts and demolition orders have been on display at your local planning department in Alpha Centauri for 50 of your Earth years, so you’ve had plenty of time to lodge any formal complaint and it’s far too late to start making a fuss about it now. ... What do you mean you’ve never been to Alpha Centauri? Oh, for heaven’s sake, mankind, it’s only four light years away, you know. I’m sorry, but if you can’t be bothered to take an interest in local affairs, that’s your own lookout. Energize the demolition beams. - Douglas Adams
Uh oh. Pirate Software’s on the case. I’m just going to sit back and watch from now on.
100% looking forward to this video!!!!
Unlikely that he makes one. After the discord fiasco with that ridiculous statement from the community manager (baskcally shit talking a player), he said he's washed his hands of the entire situation and won't even give them the time of day.
You got a link to him saying that?
Idk where he said that specifically but at this point he basically says he's not being involved in anyway with Helldivers 2 anymore going forward. Deleted all emotes, channels related to it, uninstalled, etc. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2136022612?t=8h50m55s
"Unlike the 500kg bombs that explode and miss stuff right next to them, I don't miss. I go in and I take it all out" Absolute legend.
Man is based
This is savage and correct.
"It's easy not to have this (talking about the review bombing)...you just have to not be a dick. Like to be real with you". Summing things up perfectly as usual.
Wow, he talked the talk and walked the walk, even if you don't like the guy you gotta give him some respect for that.
based brother got a follow
He's 100% worth subbing to, man is so based he's a foundation
This gave me a chuckle. I hope i can remember to use it when the opportunity rises next time
“Unlike the 500kg bomb that misses things right next to it I don’t miss” damn
Thor stays based as fuck.
The part before that is correct as well. AH is not absolved of blame. They could have fought this decision, and they didnt.
I don't see much they can do when it's a Sony (the publisher) decision. I'm not exactly knowledgeable on the topic, but it seems like there's little to nothing AH can actually do.
They could have not made it skippable, or put another splash screen stating that this is temporarily skippable and will be mandatory once technical issues are resolved. Make it obvious from the very start instead of just a line in the Steam store page (that people might have doubted due to it being skippable in practice). Also, probably have community managers that don't antagonize the player base. I'm not sure how almost all posts showing CMs or staff replies tend to be a reply from them that mocks or is hostile to players criticizing their decisions. Other gaming companies would have received much more negative reactions if their CMs and staffs did the same (like Blizzard's "don't you have phones" moment).
[https://clips.twitch.tv/TangentialBashfulFlamingoKAPOW-u0fayVxa0jR8ZcyK](https://clips.twitch.tv/TangentialBashfulFlamingoKAPOW-u0fayVxa0jR8ZcyK) Here you go!
Sad part is they're not alone. Texas Chainsaw/F13 both had a few CMs who did this exact shit (some of them the same person between games). DBD has had CMs like this. Its unreal how many surprising games thrust into success have people in CM positions who just should not be a CM. And I say that as someone who has done CM work for Discord and other large communities on a volunteer basis.
Yeah companies like the interaction and exposure of Discord, but they dont want to handle moderating it themselves. Discord requires you moderate your servers so I'm sure some shitty company steps in to employ CMs at low cost. The devs likely dont have any input about Discord moderation, except they have powers themselves, but only use them spread relevant info.
Oh im talking in general; the TCM/F13/DBD CMs have been horrid on their personal twitch streams (and on company streams), they've been nasty in subreddits, on twitter, in discords, w/e. Not ALL of the CMs, mind you, but some. Enough to be noted for all 3 as a trend for their respective devs/publishers.
Fucking Almo lmao.
Oh, you think they are paid? I really, REALLY doubt they are. These are volunteer positions, given to those that have skill and want it. AKA, the tyrant dilemma. Some of the WORST people for a mod role will volunteer. Power hungry assholes with nothing better to do
I wasn’t going to refund personally, but after seeing this I’m heavily leaning towards refunding now. It’s not in the EULA that we have a Sony account, their own site states we don’t need one, and now we’re being threatened with the deletion of our accounts and super credits that some spent real money on. https://preview.redd.it/mmat9dhqfayc1.jpeg?width=680&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fcfb4f27a592b7cc93314c4f0c7bac791a36831d
I view it like this - for me this has become my favorite game and the PSN connection is not an inconvenience. From what I have heard, the game sold in something like 200 countries. The issue arises when PSN is only actually available for 73 of the 200, which is a pretty terrible twist. I'm lucky, and am going to keep playing. I don't fault anyone else who quits because of what is happening.
That was my original take, and I still kind of feel that way. I would feel better knowing the CM was fired though.
I'd be fine with a repremend and demotion. Something along the lines of "you're now on a leash" would be enough for me. I don't disagree with the "fire him" sentiment. I'm just trying to give more leeway than most are willing to give. I don't disagree with them, I'm just trying to be a little bit more forgiving.
I understand and respect where you're coming from, but this particular CM is constantly under fire from the community due to how he speaks to us he's been given chances and he always goes back to this state. It is clear his communication skills aren't fit for the job he has.
He was supposed to be on a leash after the last time he pulled shit like this. He definitely should not be allowed to speak to the community further at this point at minimum.
Jesus! Spitz need to be fired or removed from community management. Holy hell, not a good look for the game in general.
Oh sweet here we go
Can’t link it because I’m twitch illiterate, but I went to his stream because I wanted to catch some live reaction and managed to check in as he was deleting the Helldivers channel, role, and emotes from everything, telling everyone not to white knight, and that he wasn’t going to give them any more of his breath after how they treated the community. Mind you this was in response to the community manager’s “I thought you were uninstalling” comment moreso than the Sony crap as far as I’m aware.
Shit, knowing he's a chill dude going to such extent.
Yeah, every single one of his takes I have fully agreed with after listening to them fully, even the ones I want to argue with him. IMO, dude is super grounded and understands a lot of stuff.
He's an experienced industry VETERAN who's seen it all and then some. If PirateSoftware has a take on something related to the game industry, it's probably the closest thing to an "objectively correct" take you can get.
Correct me if I'm wrong but was he an ex blizzard dev so he knows the jargon and bs from a mile out when it comes to this stuff?
Oh shit that was PirateSoftware the CM said that to?
Oh, no, it wasn’t toward him, but it really rubbed him the wrong way from the perspective of a dev/community manager-type fella on top of it being, uh, mildly tone deaf. It was that and a few of the other responses that have been making the rounds here that got him to turn a 180 on Helldivers.
No the CM said it to someone else, PS had the screenshot of the interaction up and said that.
You don’t happen to have a time stamp estimate do you?
somewhere around the 9 hour mark
You mean a YouTube short of him explaining account linking in MS Paint
Possibly starting with a white square on black canvas and completely abandoning the visual aid after that step. Gotta love them squares.
Will be a short, saying: "It's shitty behavior. Don't do that" and be will be done with it. Maybe he'll touch on the region blocking Sony should have done as well but I doubt he will tear into Arrowhead before they had tome to give a proper response. Edit: I stand corrected. Holy shit, he's pissed.
He never really posts videos, aside from shorts
This is like watching an entrance in WWE. *OH MAH GAWD*
Here’s to hoping he gets bored and explains how to get around it all while drawing in MS paint..
Who is he?
A developer that tries to teach people, particularly those who haven’t code, how to make games. He also does a lot of commentary on modern game development.
Very highly respected game dev, who's worked for major studios including Blizzard and Amazon. He's an advocate for treating employees (especially QA) equally and with respect. Probably one of the most consumer friendly developers around.
He's also an incredibly clever security specialist iirc, with a lot of experience in cyber security. If anyone can explain why this shit is bad for your safety in a clear and concise way, it's him.
He literally used another PC to play helldivers, fed the video to his streaming PC to stream onto twitch/youtube. Just because of the kernel level anticheat. He knows his stuff and he takes precautions, way beyond what a normal person would, because he KNOWS exactly what can go wrong
Being more specific: 20 years as Lead of Application Security at Blizzard Entertainment and Senior Red Team Specialist for Blizzard. 3x black badges from DEF CON. He's last job was hacking power plants for the United States Department of Energy.
Who/what’s pirate software? Besides the obvious *pirated software* ofc
He's a Twitch Streamer that used to work for Blizzard/Amazon as a game dev, and mostly talks about making games and pulling back the curtain of how the gaming industry works.
QA, and he worked in CyberSec for places like a Nuclear Energy facility before. At oeast that's what he says and seems to have knowledge supporting.
I don't think he was a game dev at Blizzard, just QA and Security. (admittedly haven't watched him all that long)
His dad also worked at blizzard back when it was good. The WoW character from southpark is based on his dad even.
That shit is absolutely wild!
Thor, Goblin Lord
[His content is always relevant to Helldivers 2.](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/y5CjhzyIZio)
yep the shitstorm that is comming man tarkov shitstorm form last week will be looking small aginst it.
I doubt that. Tarkov was worse than this. Unless I’ve missed something substantial. Being asked to make and link and account is obnoxious, but it’s sure not ‘$250 that we lied about’ obnoxious.
The biggest problem is those losing access to the game who literally cannot make a PSN account because of region issue. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sony/Arrowhead allows them to continue to opt out. The rest of us are out of luck tho
Hopefully if they can opt out, so should everyone else on PC.
Yeah that would not fly in the EU. Either way they should give everyone the option to opt-out, with the trade-off of disabled crossplay. If Sony is basing all of this on online play, that would at least make some sense. It's obviously still bullshit, you can crossplay something like Rocket League and don't require PSN, but that's not their game, so they can't force it.
I'd take that deal. I have crossplay turned off anyway.
Agreed
Given the requirement was posted on the steam page I'm not sure if that one would be blamed on Arrowhead or Valve for allowing people in countries without Playstation Network access to purchase the game. Like I'm prefectly willing to say Fuck Sony as anyone else, but taking a moment to think about it this one is kinda more on the side of whoever set up that store page. It's been years since I've encountered it, but I'm pretty sure Valve has region restrictions as an option on the store side.
>Sony That'd be the ones (they distribute and publish the game), not Arrowhead. The game should not have been sold in regions that cannot meet the PSN requirement.
This is what a lot of people seem to be missing. Pretty much any reasonable consumer protection law will state that if you sell a product, and especially if you advertise it working in a certain way, it must perform this way to any person it is sold to. The steam page clearly shows gameplay, and a reasonable would expect this is what they're buying. It's like selling an electric appliance globally - you advertise how it works but it only comes with a UK power plug. That's great for anywhere that has UK power outlets, but everyone else can't use the product. And you can't tell people they should spend extra money on a power adapter, also considering differences in voltage/frequencies of different power grids. That's an instant entitlement to a refund. It's why games are often region locked at point of sale if the publisher/dev doesn't offer live services in certain countries. AH/Sony/Steam failed to region lock on Steam, and a small notification on the right side of the store page is in no way a reasonable method of informing consumers that they won't be able to play the game in 2 months time that they're about to buy.
PS customer support says that you can choose an available region for you PSN account as long as the currency can't be a problem for you. So it doesn't seem like they care as long as you just make the account. UK government is where you'll run into issues.
It says the following on the Playstation direct purchase website for the game: >Do I need a PSN account to play PlayStation games on PC? >No, you currently do not need a PSN account to enjoy PlayStation Studios games on PC, but you will need a Steam account to redeem your voucher code. Some of our PlayStation Studios titles also offer incentives for linking your Steam and PSN accounts. https://direct.playstation.com/en-us/buy-games/helldivers-2-pc
Oh wow, direct from the Sony store page. Gonna archive.org it just in case they change it - either they change it before the requirement goes live or there's a false advertising charge in the making. Edit: https://web.archive.org/web/20240503175627/https://direct.playstation.com/en-us/buy-games/helldivers-2-pc
I expect them to change it and say it has always been like that. Some shady shit going on today.
I feel bad for arrowhead though… they get shit on by their customers every time they change some minor thing about a gun magazine after making an awesome game. Now they’re getting shit on by their bosses and their customers simultaneously. Seems like a tough gig.
They signed the publishing contract with Sony, which means they agreed to the terms Sony is trying to enforce on the playerbase here. They're not absolved.
Eh, they aren't completely innocent here. Dozens if not hundreds of meeting took place to determine the length of Sony's involvement, at some point this came up and arrowhead OKAY'd it. It's not like Sony smuggled this in under some random paragraph in a contract, lawyers looked over these in full and decided that it was fine for this to happen. That said no one should be nasty towards anyone else, but don't be naïve in thinking that arrowhead is a victim here too. The issue is with letting people play without it for 3 months and then demanding it happens. It is likely there will be a not insignificant number of people refunding the game come end of may. If the number is large enough, maybe it gets recanted, but I doubt it.
>Lawyers looked over these in full and decided that it was fine for this to happen. You say that like the lawyers give two shits about having to make another account to play the game. They’re just there to make sure the contract or whatever is fair between the devs and the publisher. Not to make sure gamers are accommodated.
[удалено]
If I had to guess, it didn't seem like a big deal at the time to Arrowhead and it was simply shortsighted on their part. Not malicious, just didn't expect the implications of agreeing to it. While not a victim, I would say they're innocent in this. Just negligent. And the backlash is likely to matter quite a bit here. That said? 100%, people are just being so wild about it. Though admittedly, I was definitely poking the hornets nest and instigating a little this morning.. So glass houses, and all that.
https://preview.redd.it/w45grd8y4ayc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d234b7526b30e1434ddc23231234fb6dd875d1ae Here's a screenshot for posterity as well.
This needs to be fucking boosted to all hell the fact that it itself STATES on Sony website it does not need it is fucking foul
Not **currently** needed. Doesn't mean they can't change their EULA at any time. Not defending, just reality.
That would put them in trouble in the EU if people want to put it to consumer protection agencies with the resources to sue Sony (again) right?
Good call
Caught red handed 
What is it with big tech companies and shittification. Do they let the good employees go, because they refuse to pay em well, so only the ones that are happy to be payed for doing a job they are unable to do are left? How does thia happen?
That’s a problem with capitalism. You have a problem with capitalism.
What does the word “currently” mean?
Fun fact, it also doesn't apply to Arrowhead. They explicitly stated *for PlayStation Studios games*. PlayStation Studios is a subsidiary of Sony that oversees their in house development teams. Arrowhead is NOT one of those teams, Sony is the publisher
If you click through the publisher link for Helldivers 2 on Steam, you will find it is referred to as PlayStation Studios(TM), and at the bottom of the Helldivers 2 Steam store page it links to "more games from PlayStation Studios(TM)". You may be technically correct, but if you are, the best case scenario is that they are negligently misleading some consumers. The worst case scenario is that they're maliciously misleading some consumers. A reasonable person could easily believe this applies. It's not acceptable behaviour.
Keyword, CURRENTLY.
"Currently" is the keyword there. It'll get changed.
https://preview.redd.it/8oqw1e7z6ayc1.png?width=954&format=png&auto=webp&s=bbfee49e9192cc5c325e7fc5d8c614099fe1059c
LOL 
Japanese publishers once again proving they hate money and good will...
I genuinely doubt they aren't going to find a workaround/solution for people in countries where PSN isn't available. Like imagine being the execs explaining to shareholders how you successfully prevented people from buying your game.
PSN has existed for over a decade at this point, they haven't cared enough to expand their services in that time, Helldivers 2 won't change anything
Sony isn’t really Japanese anymore. Main office in Cali.
That just playstation, Sony itself is in Japan
The ps stuff is now solely operated out of Cali now has nothing to do with sony japan...
If this game required a PSN account to play right away it would not have blown up as big as it did on PC.
(Serious question) then why not continue to kick the can down the road? Have it be a policy in name only? Who wants to kick the hornets nest?
Probably because Sony believes the community will be more bark than bite. I'd have to imagine that Sony sticking to their guns would at the very least require them to refund/delist the game in countries without PSN.
It did originally but was suspended due to server issues. Even the popup said it required a psn
And by week 2 there was no pop up so anyone that came in after would have no idea.
Got game on early march, friend got it week earlier than me. Both got pop up. It only appeared once so its easy to forget. But it def was there for us.
Bought mid April, got the popup.
Got it early March, got pop up, didn't realize there was an issue with needing another account until today.
Not to mention there's no way to link an account in-game at the moment. Were it not for the steam page mentioning it you'd never know it was even possible to link a PSN account.
It was never required. Even Day 1 you could just skip it and play the game normally.
I most definitely could not. Had to go through sony's terrible fucking customer support to get my old account back.
Absolutely untrue. I was there on day one and it was not optional at all. You could not even get to the main menu without logging in.
yes you are right. I just checked again when i got the game. It was day 2. So from day 2 onwards you could just skip it.
> It was never ~~required~~ **enforced** Words have meanings.
Looking how easily they suspended the requirement instead on fixing servers shows how unnecessary is that requirement.
It did, also you're just linking to it, not logging in every time like Xbox would force you to do.
It *did* require it. Their sales blew up and their ability to link accounts broke so they temporarily removed the requirement
I’ve never had a psn. Day one the pop up said I needed one so I made one, in like 30 seconds Edit: wasn’t aware that psn is not available in so many countries. That’s a huge bummer and definitely valid.
I'll likely get downvoted for this but the only people that should be pissed about this are the ones that literally can't make an account. The rest seems petty to me, and I have a hard time empathizing - though I get it's a bit frustrating to be rugpulled.
The narrative has changed so fast. At first people were bitching about having to make a PSN account but when they got called out for being idiots they decided to use the people that legitimately can't make accounts as the excuse for why they're mad. I feel bad for those people but for the ones that can make an account but are too lazy to? Screw them. It's funny they're demanding refunds too even though they've probably put hundreds of hours into the game.
Yeah I said the same a few comments down and did get downvoted lol. I agree though, tbh some of these people come off like they’re just spring boarding off the actual issue as a way to dog pile their petty complaints
Awesome, now can you understand why if you couldn’t make one, cus it’s not in your country, why that would be bad?
They have a legitimate complaint. The vast majority of players aren't from those countries and are just bitching because they want to be mad.
This. I would have seen that requirement, and been like "Eh. Maybe I'll do that later". Then I'd never have done it later because I'd just be playing BG3 or something, and I'd never have pushed other people to join the HellDivers. Heck, I likely would have refunded it, just cause my play time would have been zero. Edit; In general, the idea of like "I reserve the right to make this suck and cite this as why, whenever I get around to making it suck" is not a good clause to be accepting of. I'd get it if a system changed because a vulnerability was discovered, or a law changed, or best practices required it for some upgrade, or... whatever. But I don't see how PSN makes the game objectively better, and I don't think its legally required suddenly.
This entire thing has the same energy as the employment contract that Arrowhead satirizes. You see it once at the beginning, don't think about it at all because nothing about it shows up in game, and get screwed over by it once the enlister arbitrarily decides it's time to bend you over.
The palpable irony here is immense
https://preview.redd.it/96i0ibwpy8yc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2e41a5f0448d3ad7d9380ecdb41046b07d3486ff saw this after I made my negative review
Was never up to Arrowhead.. https://preview.redd.it/e6ji9dfjf9yc1.png?width=456&format=png&auto=webp&s=37e4777666c30abba732eae6e3209fec6b05e211
His comment on that (from a clip I saw earlier) was that Arrowhead agreed to have Sony as their publisher, and there would have been meetings where this was agreed upon.
I know it's not you who made this comment so I'm not directly addressing this to you necessarily: They likely had a lot of meetings with Sony when they made the first game 10 years ago as well Arrowhead could not have made this game without Sony's involvement unfortunately as they probably have some ownership in the IP or HD1 would probably be on Xbox by now
Yes. The options were "get helldivers published" or "not". Arrowhead agreed to have it published. I think it was the right choice.
Le wholesome developers would never push this on the fan base, obviously big bad Sony For fucks sake, the efforts people go through to continue defending AH. Sony and AH are responsible for this.
Wholesome devs who also got into bed with a suspect Korean banking software dev to use their insanely fringe anti cheat that doesn't actually ban cheaters? There's something amiss with AH management here.
Who cares? It's arrowheads game when things are good but sonys product when things are bad? No I they are both signing off on this and are both shitty for it.
check [https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2136022612?t=8h50m55s](https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2136022612?t=8h50m55s) lots of inside info that AH is to blame aswell and not just Sony
Its correct to say AH signed a contract with Sony, AGREEING to terms. Correct ?
Thor has spoken!
Saying "it's always been on Steam" is a lousy argument because that's essentially admitting the plan all along was to force users to make PSN accounts while at the same time listing the game on Steam in regions where PSN is not supported They sold the game knowing months later their players would inevitably lose access.
People love rug pulls, it's something about the sudden jerk and crushing your tailbone on impact.
For me it's more about the feeling of helplessness as I try to flail and grab onto something that isn't there to try, and fail, to lessen the impact. Really gets the blood pumping.
Someday some CEO is going to see these comments in a marketing research and assume it's what consumers want
Ya it's not the "gotcha" people defending it think it is. If anything it makes those people look like bootlickers for Sony. This is a rug pull for everyone on Steam who is region locked out of PSN.
Also why are we defending the idea of forcing the consumer to make an account when it is so blatantly obvious not required for literally any functionality? Like when did the community get so okay with this idea?
I think it's a Sony thing, where people strangely give them a pass on shit like this. When EA or Microsoft games required a separate login on Steam players would often get pissed and the universal consensus was always that it was bullshit to have to have a second account. When Sony does it apparently it's not a big deal.
I'm surprised it's not illegal to sell in a country where it might not be available.
It's also, and this is most important. *Not* in the EULA, which means this all nonsense. There was a post recently about this.
Cool EULAs are non-enforceable anyway.
You don't need to include it in the EULA? Why the fuck would you?
Not even that's the issue. The biggest issue is that a ton of players cannot make the account at all
The best way to navigate this whole shit show currently is to make the fact known to Sony that if they go through with this and not update the regions in which a PSN account is required will make a dent in their future bottom line.
Pirate Software came from NOWHERE and is popping off everywhere I go. The man is a legend o7
I haven’t watched him so I don’t him so well but I’m surprised he’s taking such a stance. There are A LOT of games that require separate accounts and I do recall this being prompted at the beginning of the games launch but delayed only because it was causing networking issues. I do understand that players who came in after it was delayed would have had no idea about this though and that is unfair. I also understand it is very messed up for those who can’t use PSN in their region. That is very unfair. That alone is worth being upset over. But if the majority are mad just because you need to create an account I think it’s a result of overall unhappiness with industry trends and recent happenings. Otherwise I find it odd to be so upset about but I’d never argue they don’t have the right to be.
He is coming from the angle of being an indie game developer that has created his own game studio. He has been fighting against what publishers have been pulling for years. And has probably personally made the types of sacrifices he is mad at Arrowhead for not making to keep this from happening. I think this hits pretty personal for him.
The issue is that during these months on it not being enforced. It was knowingly sold in countries where you can't create a PSN account. If you use a VPN to create said account you get banned from accessing the game. So anyone from the 70 or so countries where they can make an account is fine and the other 100+ countries are completely screwed. Even when first logging in at release you could skip the process of linking your account it wasn't enforced at any point.
Plus: apparently the PSN requirement isnt even in the EULA currently. A banner on a steam page is not exactly legally binding. So well see whether they change their EULA - otherwise there might actually be room for legal action.
why even have eulas if they are allowed to change the terms after a person has bought the product?
>A banner on a steam page is not exactly legally binding. Neither are. EULAs
You can wish list games from the Steam main page and buy directly from your wish list. It is possible to buy a game without ever seeing those "requirements".
I had to link my account a month ago, am I like the ONLY person?
To be expected, the Goblin Lord stands with us!
Im a little out of the loop. Whos this guy. And whats the relation he got to helldivers?
He is a well respected game dev and cyber security expert.
He also has a massive social media presence on Youtube, Twitch, and Twitter, *and* has played Helldivers extensively from launch until now, because now he has completely washed his hands from the game in response to this. This is huge.
Pirate Software is the Developer of Indie Heartbound, but that probably isn't where you know him from his time at Blizzard as Senior Red Team Specialist (basically a he was the person who helped gind weak spots in the code that could be exploited by hackers), he directly worked on StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, Diablo III, and World of Warcraft. He then went to work at Amazon game studios and then the Department of Energy, he then went on to focus on his passion project Heartbound, He also runs a Youtube channel where he talks about the games industry, things he did at blizzard, and other things. He is also a three time of DEF CON's Black Badge which is insane.
He is a highly respected game dev, having made the hit indie game Heartbound as well as doing a lok of work for Blizzard (back when it was still respectable). He has become a popular content creator and has done a lot of vods with him playing Helldivers.
The amount of ignorant people today acting like this is a non issue is astonishing. People that have been playing the game for months with no issue suddenly aren’t going to be able to anymore because of Sony corporate greed and apparently it’s their own fault, hilarious. Even if Sony and AH work out a fix for this it isn’t just going to go away, lost a lot of goodwill with this decision.
It's not about security. It's about boosting their numbers. If it was about security, they wouldn't have kernel level permissions AND they wouldn't need an account. Fuck the bootlickers.
I swear this game is going to be ground zero for a cyber attack with how many people bought it and how non-secure it is
Just to prove a point too. like it won't even be malicious, it'll literally just to prove a point.
Donning my tinfoil hat but: One of the known bugs is Ukrainian language not working on it Sony hacks being linked to Russia- they know how to exploit the system. Kernel level anti cheat Swedish publishers Sweden just joined nato
Yeah but according to others we're just whining about the time to set up an account. Fucking morons.... And the CEOs response was so empty and passive aggressive that it legit makes me even angrier.
Sadly, most people in the world seem to actively be ok with getting fucked around And yeah. This ceo sucks. He’s been dishonest in almost all communications I’ve seen of his. A very good bullshitter
Which like... Just speaks on the current state of gaming in 2024 where it's ALL about the profits and numbers and not the player experience. These devs have demonstrated they know less about the player experience than they do about character design (the armor steadily has been getting uglier and uglier) and about how to make a secure game.
https://preview.redd.it/45hu1x2a7byc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=192cd72e26770b1cc094991243556f587d0f2046
Oh, Ubisoft is rubbing their hands together right now. "Told em to get used to not owning your games." Man, this is terrible. I never even thought about them allowing people to buy the game, knowing that psn isn't in their country. So, if the linking was implemented at launch, would they still be selling the game to people in those countries? That is wild as hell..
Arrowhead made it optional so people could play the game. It’s not their decision, and they said that they’re trying to figure out a solution for those who can’t have PSN accounts due to where they live. How about everybody stops freaking out for a few days and sees what happens? When we see the solution, then you can all resume freaking out. But reviewbombing and harassing Arrowhead employees is not the move.
100% with him. This was not a requirement and is being made one retroactively. This is bait and switch as they know for a fact if they made this mandatory from the beginning the sales wouldn't have been what they were across the board. Word of mouth really pushed this game over the edge and they just wouldn't have had that same support if this was actually required. False advertising at its scummiest.
"Supports Linking to Steam Account" is misleading because it sounds like it's saying the game supports it, not PSN(which as far as I'm aware you can't link PSN to your Steam, just to individual PC games).
It was optional and now it's mandatory. Also, I am seeing some age verification bullshit thing as well.
Just a scummy practice.
Based pirate gaming
Genuinely curious why is it such a big deal to make a psn account
Oh no! Anyways-
I mean….im not sure “but they weren’t enforcing it” is a great argument. I’ve got my fingers crossed that someone at AH is angrily on the phone to Sony convincing them to go back on it- that seems to be the best way for this to end realistically (unless they’re hoping to weather the storm, but that’ll be near minimum until early next month before something distracts the community again, which is quite a long time to get review bombed by the PC crowd)
Give your data to Sony it will be safe… 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 Also, can someone prove that the screenshot from the store page is not recent because I do not recall seeing it weeks ago.
Damn... when you've lost Thor, you've definitely fucked up. Also, Thor is not just "some gamer guy so he cares what he thinks?" I'm gonna do you a favor, look up his history, it's very public. If there was one streamer I could think of who knew what he was talking about when it comes to things like this, it would be him.
I have yet to see him be on the wrong side of anything. Dude thinks through everything before he says something and is incredibly grounded, he’s not your average streamer.
Thor's a chill guy, [this clip here](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VAWwtjtRM98) made me think: "Wow this is not only a really good guy, but also pretty smart." I've been doing similar jobs as him for a while now, and his takes on things really made me think. I like him, he seems pretty cool but will absolutely call someone out when they're being a dick, especially if they're being a dick AND inefficient about it.
As I was preparing to buy HD2 I did what I always do, I read the requirements. I saw the requirement for a PSN account and thought it's a little odd, but I accepted that as part of the deal then hit the purchase button. It did always say this. It might not have always been necessary because they turned it off for a period of time to deal with the unexpected surge in uptake that caused difficulties in implementing it. That doesn't matter, it was always the plan. It was there for people to read. Always read product requirements. Vendors put them there so that the consumer is appropriately informed.
That's the issue, people don't read. Now, some people have said that they never got the message which should be investigated, but anyone who clicked skip just didn't read/think about what it was saying which is why we are here now.
Based Thor take
People of Earth, your attention, please. This is Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz of the Galactic Hyperspace Planning Council. As you will no doubt be aware, the plans for development of the outlying regions of the Galaxy require the building of a hyperspatial express route through your star system. And regrettably, your planet is one of those scheduled for demolition. The process will take slightly less than two of your Earth minutes. Thank you. ... There’s no point in acting surprised about it. All the planning charts and demolition orders have been on display at your local planning department in Alpha Centauri for 50 of your Earth years, so you’ve had plenty of time to lodge any formal complaint and it’s far too late to start making a fuss about it now. ... What do you mean you’ve never been to Alpha Centauri? Oh, for heaven’s sake, mankind, it’s only four light years away, you know. I’m sorry, but if you can’t be bothered to take an interest in local affairs, that’s your own lookout. Energize the demolition beams. - Douglas Adams
https://preview.redd.it/uyxxy4h8gayc1.png?width=1221&format=png&auto=webp&s=359d0342ac244615a4cb34e76c2c3acbd5f66912
if the game "required" a PSN account since day 1 it seems a little strange that I have been playing for several months without one now.