Helldivers Fans Won Against Sony 

I'm still pissed about minecraft forcing us to switch to a microsoft account. Just let them delete my account because I'm not doing a microsoft account.

Just goes to show. PC gamers aren't console gamers. There's a reason we don't pay to play online.

A civilian makes a PSN account. A citizen applies for a refund and leaves a negative review.

WE GAVE THEM A STEAMING HOT CUP OF LiBERTEAAAA

Im honestly surprised we won.

Reviewbomb Strategem was effective.

There’s a little unsung hero here. Steam/valve. They were accepting refund requests WELL outside the scope of their refund policy simply for citing the PSN requirement. Regardless of whether your region had access to PSN or not.

Can't believe they thought they could get away with this... they must be used to console players being doormats.

This is just proof that if a topic/product gets enough feedback from the audience, negative/positive/other, it can and WILL determine how the community built around it engage going further. Its the age old technique of If you're sick of eating shit, stop eating.

Forcing PC players to register a fcking PLAYSTATION account is beyond me.

I still remember that time Sony tried and failed to copyright the term “Let’s Play”. I still laugh at it

8:00 I'm not sure, but I think Steam was offering refunds for everyone, regardless of playtime, as the changing TOS was (I think) considered fraudulent, maybe criminal. I do know they removed the game from any PSN-unavailable regions. It's most likely that Steam was the biggest contributor to Sony's walkback. They're the only people who could really hit Sony in their wallet, while the reviews likely just helped.

The game is so good we had a misson in real life.

And thank goodness we have a platform like steam where this kind of thing is possible.

We still haven't won until the game is back on sale in the 177 countries it was pulled out from.

I used to love SONY - their music equipment was top quality. Then they distributed root kits on music CDs, got caught and said "'most people don't even know what a root kit is, so why should they care?" - and I've hated them with a passion ever since.

Managed democracy prevails once more!

Valve honestly just need to say you cannot sell your game on steam if it requires a 3rd party account. Sure you can have it as an option for more features but it HAS to be skippable. I mean they did it with many of the anti cheat solutions by making the steam deck linux and telling them to deal with it.

Sony would've never gone back on their decision if it wasn't for steam allowing refunds after learning about the psn acc requirement

A lot of arrowhead employees shat on the community while this was happening. Also,, per arrowhead employee (misty) it was arrowhead that requested the linking requirement be reinstated. So, no, none of the hatred was undeserved. Keep in mind more than half of the CM/Devs at arrowhead have made it clear they want to be able to easily ban people they don't like. This along with the devs griefing gamers while in mission should tell you all you need to know.

you vill own -nothing- and you vill be happy

A great example of how bullying is perfectly acceptable when it is directed towards mega-corporations. We should do this more often! It's a shame the devs caught in the crossfire though. The game is aweosme. The publisher, not so much.

>meanwhile Stellar Blade fans waiting for Sony to uncensor their game... 💀

We're so back

Why is everyone celebrating? They canceled the patch. They havent removed the requirement. I'd personallynwait for them to actually remove the PSN requirement before boosting those review scores. Sony just wants their numbers looking good before their investor call.

I usually NEVER EVER play online games published by AAA companies, but I made an exception for helldivers, and was soon after punished for it.... I'm so glad the decision was reversed.

HE CHANGED IT FROM MONERO! TO ANY CRYTPO

Helldiver devs KNEW about this over 60 days before. They admitted it and decided to just hope the success would override it. I do not pity them for the hate.

Sony didn't lose, they feigned retreat.

Nah I'm done with the game, as much as it hurts my soul, I have a dignity to maintain

Now if they only got rid of the malware anti-cheat, I might actually be able to play this game!

The regions are still blocked from being able to buy the game. This is like still having the account link required

*0:44** is the most accurate infographic I've ever seen in my entire life.*

This is why it's important to be able to run your own server.

I don't buy only online games ever.

Gamers Nexus' comment under the PS tweet is awesome

Funny how Sony announced this on Friday, then made the reversal hours before the stock market opened on Monday. They’ll definitely be pulling more bs, that message was weird. “Feedback”, yeah great way to minimalize what happened. And “future plans”, why so ominous?

I'm so tired of these greedy corporate scumbags who disregard the community that PAYS them for this game. I am a Tarkov player and we had a similar situation with the game creators pushing a P2W $250 edition of the game and lying to their playerbase.

It's not over until "Requires 3rd-Party Account: PlayStation Network" is completely removed from the store page. If its not they can just require it again anytime they want once the backlash dies down. I didn't buy the game because "Requires 3rd-Party Account: PlayStation Network" and wont until that's gone from the store page. So don't back down until "Requires 3rd-Party Account: PlayStation Network" is removed from the store page.

Ordering my little daemon hoodie with MXR after this one 🔥

05:30 hatred wasn't unfair, they knew everything at the start and expected the backlash but they just underestimated the scope. check the posts

Safety and Security has become such a vomit inducing joke.

Console users will outcry, bluff, and threaten to leave a title. PC master race will get answers, refund, and actually leave the title with bad reviews. We are not the same

It's honestly just people realizing the effect of boycotting something, just express your discontent and refuse to monetize what you don’t want to. Funny how it took a war for everyone to realize that you can just, you know, not play it if you don’t like it.

Nah man , it was EU that would sue them with Fraud and Anti-monopoly ... since 60% of sales of this game where from EU on PC .... 40% on Console

Victory screetch!

I havnt played Helldivers 2 but isn’t the online aspect of it pretty much essential to the overall experience of taking back planets and Joel being the GM manipulating what happens in the war. Idk how they would transition that same feeling to offline play

That is a victory message to show the customers own them, not the cooperation

Valve is the one who came through on this. Them offering full refunds regardless of playtime and then sticking Sony with charges well over $1 million USD due to refunding customers really sent those executives over.

People should still boycott it out of principle. Anybody that goes back to playing like nothing happened are enabling this behavior still.

Hi, any chance you would sell your merch international? Cause i would love to buy the Little Daemon T-shirt

Most likely next step is to offer some sort of cosmetic for linking your account, after that there's going to be weapons or something you can only attain with a linked account. Soon enough there will be priority servers only linked accounts can get into and unlinked servers will be slower and prone to crashing. They will still pull every dirty trick they can come up with to get you to link up with a PSN account short of forcing you to do it.

Your feedback has been invaluable! 😂

How is this a win other than Sony learning how far they can push the users? I would not play this if it was available anyway while being forced to create a Sony account. I refuse.

It is unlikely that the review bombing had anything to do with Sony forfeiting on this update. What is much more likely it the fact that Steam started allowing refunds after the usual two hours for players who cannot create a PSN account because it is not available in their region.

Wasn't expecting a helldivers video from Mental Outlaw.

I didn't play it for a little while after I bought it because I was hearing whispers about it breaking people's SSD's. And right when I start getting into it this shit show goes down.

There are few more caveats to the whole PSN account thing: - in some countries, like Afghanistan, as you said, it's completely unavailable; - in some countries, like Ukraine, it requires owning a Sony console, which in case of Ukraine means turning a $40 game into a $650 game; - in some countries, like the UK, it requires uploading a scan of an identity document - which sound fun given the history of PSN hacks; - using a VPN to circumvent those restrictions leads to a ban; - in some countries, like the EU thanks to GDPR, it's illegal to gate an already purchased service behind providing more personal data; - Sony has said in multiple places, including their webpage, that account linking is optional, and then started redacting all those places, which in the case of the website can be verified using the Internet Archive; - the game was available for purchase in the countries that cannot create PSN accounts, only a day after the announcement they restricted it. Now the question remains: will they unlock sales worldwide? Right now, they're still restricted

That went over like a fart in sunday school

When you dont have a reason, then tell them it is for their safety and security

They'll never destroy our way of life!

forcing people to use a psn account in a country where it's not possible way into the lifespan of a game whould probably be considered fraud in my country.

If olny can turn into drm free as well.

They still learning what is best for PC gamer, it sound like there will be another sequel until they get what they want

Does he know that it’s a live service game? Not only is an internet connection required for core gameplay, it also requires a DM. The community is a huge aspect of the game, and the friends we have overseas kinda makes it possible to complete missions in a timely manner

7:10 "We're still learning what is best [...]" Ohhh yeahhh you're still learning. Gonna be a whole lotta learning up in this place, you can be sure of that

Well, at least they accepted it (temporarily?). Thanks for the video!

did you make a satania hoodie?

The only way to make this "victory" matter past this one game is to boycott Sony from any revenue streams to make sure they are actually hurt and take real damage from this. Scortched earth is the only policy these companies will understand.

Don't forget they're making statements like "players should get used to not owning games"

Was just about to buy the game after months of hype just to see this. I’ll save my money.

This has actually turned into a meta game, where crowd mentality is turning into a real being outside the game. This is on the level of Ghost in the Shell singularity stuff where the crowd acts towards a goal, out of converging emotions. And all of it stems from inside the game and the mentality of fighting against a force just because. No real good reason, just because we all need to. Kinda awesome and kinda scary.

This is what happens when the frogs all get together to ask to be boiled slower! Congrats Helldivers players!

The game does work on Linux by the way.

Lol talibans, gigabit optical internet and purple kush! The scene is like a game 😂

with that; instead of going big, theyre now going small w/ GoT PC multiplayer requiring PSN

I think the Steam issued refunds played a small role.. (they issued refunds even after the 2 hour cap)

this only delays the inevitable

A battle won but the war rages on.

The game still has a terrible malware. They should push even more to get that removed.

oh sony's 100% gonna try this again "we're still trying to find what's best for PC players" = "we're still trying to find how far we can push PC players" BUT look on the bright side, they try it again? we push back again! don't give up now people we can win again!

Maybe for helldivers, future products i wouldnt hold your breath.

I think they did not revert there decision because of the reviews but because Steam issues everyone in the effected countries which are not able to create a psn account a refund. I bet that would be a lot of money.

I think Sony doesn't really care about negative reviews, and there was no decrease in players online. In my opinion main reason for them to revert the changes was steam allowing refunds for everyone(even with 2+hours of playtime). They hear nothing but money

Ross Scott said "Games-as-a-service is fraud" and was right. He fucking called it. Had Helldivers 2 provided the older online MP paradigm of users being able to host servers or connect p2p the userbase wouldn't have been left with a videogame they often could not play on launch either. Everything about this shitty situation was the result of a deliberate decision in pursuit of profit and control.

I already removed the game from my wishlist, this killed any interest I had in the game and thats not coming back

Unfortunately, last I heard, they made the game unavailable in regions where PSN isn't still. Unsure of exactly why though.

they still keep a ban (since may 4-th) on buying the game in countries that can't create PSN. look at the price in steam db in Philippines Peso it used to be 1000 now it's N/A and the last update was 30 min ago. it's not a win yet it's an operational pause. all they did is just a half step back and now they'll wait and try again later.

I was trying to get into dota 2 this week. Last time I played/watched was 2014. It's because of league/vanguard b.s. Have you talked about vanguard? And doesnt helldivers also *require* 😂 kernel-level security?

(Rockstar) has done this for years, even for single player games. Why do people only have an issue with this now?

You know a company even outright said, narcassistically "obstacles to our money" with Wizards of the Coast's policy controversy?

My old ass TA game disc from 1997 can still install with a disc reader. Your move Sony.

Going forward, nobody should spend money on things that can't be used offline (especially due to DRM). If boycotting really does work, let's force the bullshit out using pure abstinence.

Premature celebration. SONY removed to option to buy Helldivers 2 in 180 regions.

5:30 This CEO has a sense of humor. By referring to the diablo immortals backlash he obviously knew he was in deep trouble. Good thing they turned it around.

The real problem is that psn doesn’t operate in so many countries for whatever reason

We fight, FOR SUPER EARRRRTH!!!

Game is still restricted to purchase on 180 countries, which was added after the Sony account linking requirement. They will potentially try this mandatory psn linking again later on. So no, we didn't win, we were deceived.

Democracy has prevailed once more!

This is why piracy is not only moral, but encouraged.