Helldivers 2 PC gamers will need a PlayStation Network account to continue playing — Sony doesn't care if players don’t own a PlayStation console

screenshot of Helldivers 2 launch trailer
(Image credit: PlayStation / YouTube)

Sony will start requiring Helldivers 2 players to link their Steam account to the PlayStation Network (PSN) by June 4, 2024, or else they won’t be able to play Helldivers 2. The company announced on Steam that it’s making the account linking requirement to PSN mandatory after the expiration of the grace period it set up when Helldivers 2 encountered technical issues during its launch.

“This is our main way to protect players from griefing and abuse by enabling the banning of players that engage in that type of behavior,” Sony said in its post. “It also allows those players that have been banned the right to appeal.”

This move didn’t sit well with the Helldivers 2’s player base. Although the game received mostly positive feedback since its launch on February 8, it received a staggering 36,000 negative reviews on the announcement day. At the time of writing, Helldivers 2 has a ‘Mostly Negative’ rating on Steam.

Most players’ biggest concern is the security of the PlayStation Network—or lack thereof. The company has been a victim of several high-profile hacks in recent history. In 2011 alone, Sony was hacked three separate times, with Sony Online Entertainment, the PlayStation Network, and Sony Pictures suffering data breaches that year.

We cannot forget the sensational Sony hack in 2014, allegedly by North Korea because of James Franco’s and Seth Rogen’s The Interview. Sony was hacked again in 2023, with Sony Interactive Entertainment falling victim to a ransomware attack and exposing the data of thousands of its employees. All in all, millions of customers were affected by these hacks, putting their information at risk.

This history does not bring confidence to Sony’s security measures. That’s why many players saw the irony when Sony said, “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.”

While this change angered many Helldivers 2 players, others pointed out that this issue would blow over despite the harsh reaction, as many will likely sign up for a PSN account and continue playing anyway, especially as creating one is free. Another player pointed out on Reddit that negative reviews sometimes don’t do much, especially for mainstream games, citing the Call of Duty franchise. For example, despite mainly getting negative reviews on Steam at launch, Call of Duty Modern Warfare III still made number two on the list of best-selling games in the U.S. for 2023.

Sony hasn’t yet responded to the massive backlash on its planned change, but Arrowhead CEO and Helldivers 2 Creative Director Jonah Pilestedt apologized on X for how the change happened. However, it’s unclear if the adverse reaction by its player base will force Sony to backtrack on these changes—only time will tell if the PSN requirement will break Helldivers 2 and Arrowhead Game Studios.

Jowi Morales
Contributing Writer

Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.

  • CelicaGT
    Considering most games require some kind of launcher or account these days this seems par for the course. I find it all quite annoying but Sony isn't being any worse in that regard.
    Reply
  • Alvar "Miles" Udell
    How to stop things like this: Don't buy the game.
    What people do: Buy the game and whine that things like this exist.

    The new term for that is "hate spending" (and it's real).
    Reply
  • Makaveli
    Not even sure why this is a story now I've been playing this since launch day. And you had to create a PSN account then and link it to steam before you could play the game.
    Reply
  • hotaru251
    CelicaGT said:
    but Sony isn't being any worse in that regard.
    HD2 is available in regions its impossible to make a PSN.


    So for those people they can no longer play a game they sunk a ton of time into & the original purchase and any microtransactions.

    If you have a requirement for a game don't have it availible in a region it can't be met and brick their game months afterwards.


    also
    CelicaGT said:
    most games require some kind of launcher or account these days
    steam is its own launcher & account. and its by far the one w/ the "most games".

    individual games (such as bnet, epic, etc) launchers are actually uncommon overall.
    Reply
  • jkflipflop98
    I'm not making a PSN account. I guess that's the end of the road for me in this game.
    Reply
  • The Historical Fidelity
    Makaveli said:
    Not even sure why this is a story now I've been playing this since launch day. And you had to create a PSN account then and link it to steam before you could play the game.
    That’s not true at all. Sony waived making a PSN account until May 30th due to some problem they had linking to steam. But most purchasers did not read that little box at the bottom of the steam page. So millions of steam based helldivers are just now hearing about this 3 months after they bought the game.
    Reply
  • blacknemesist
    The Historical Fidelity said:
    That’s not true at all. Sony waived making a PSN account until May 30th due to some problem they had linking to steam. But most purchasers did not read that little box at the bottom of the steam page. So millions of steam based helldivers are just now hearing about this 3 months after they bought the game.
    Oh we did read but if you go to the PSN page it is stated that you are not required a PSN account to play a game on PC and searching in the steam section everyone would tell you that they don't have a PSN account and have played always without it since it was removed apparently so it is not mandatory.. except Sony decided to enforce it at this point. Many accounts are only needed for purchases or some other aspects that in this case didn't affect the game at all so many bought it based on that information.
    Lesson learned, if it says "required", even if the publisher removes the requirement, I no longer trust that it won't be enforced later.
    No one will win here as it is either losing everything you bought or linking an account.
    Waiting until the end of the month to check what the outcome is but Sony going back on a bad decision is like asking Nintendo to do something productive with their IPs.
    Reply
  • The Historical Fidelity
    blacknemesist said:
    Oh we did read but if you go to the PSN page it is stated that you are not required a PSN account to play a game on PC and searching in the steam section everyone would tell you that they don't have a PSN account and have played always without it since it was removed apparently so it is not mandatory.. except Sony decided to enforce it at this point. Many accounts are only needed for purchases or some other aspects that in this case didn't affect the game at all so many bought it based on that information.
    Lesson learned, if it says "required", even if the publisher removes the requirement, I no longer trust that it won't be enforced later.
    No one will win here as it is either losing everything you bought or linking an account.
    Waiting until the end of the month to check what the outcome is but Sony going back on a bad decision is like asking Nintendo to do something productive with their IPs.
    Well twinbeard the CEO of the game studio seems to be taking this seriously so he might be able to convince Sony to drop the PSN requirement.
    Reply
  • hotaru251
    The Historical Fidelity said:
    so he might be able to convince Sony
    extremely unlikely.
    Publisher has more power and no reason to change. (sony being publisher means they wont change it)

    Sony's been fighting a battle in console wars, yes, its got better hadrware and sales, but the console sales were never the profit...its the content & sony's been losing there for ages.
    They will likely start making it a req for any game they publish goign forward.
    Reply
  • CelicaGT
    hotaru251 said:
    HD2 is available in regions its impossible to make a PSN.


    So for those people they can no longer play a game they sunk a ton of time into & the original purchase and any microtransactions.

    If you have a requirement for a game don't have it availible in a region it can't be met and brick their game months afterwards.


    also

    steam is its own launcher & account. and its by far the one w/ the "most games".

    individual games (such as bnet, epic, etc) launchers are actually uncommon overall.
    Several games I own from Steam have the option (not always optional) of its own launcher, even CDprojekt, and as I stated...I don't like it. As for the rest of it buyer beware. Those people never owned any part of that game nor are they owed anything from Sony or any other entity. I think it's absolute BS, but it IS the way things work today. You will own nothing and you will like it. Never spend ANY money on software you wouldn't toss into the gutter otherwise.
    Reply