Helldivers 2 PSN controversy, explained

The rip-roaring success of Helldivers 2 took a big hit recently due to an unexpected PlayStation Network decision by Sony. If you’re out of the loop, here’s a complete breakdown of the big controversy.

Helldivers 2 is comfortably one of 2024’s biggest success—if not the biggest—due to how unanimously loved the shooter is and how ridiculously popular it is. The political satire of Helldivers 2 intertwined with its tight gunplay is one of the shining examples of a live-service shooter.

In one fell swoop, Sony derailed a ton of Helldivers 2‘s momentum, leading to negative reviews, player vitriol, and unrest from developer Arrowhead Game Studios.

What is the Helldivers 2 PSN controversy?

You need a PSN account to play Helldivers 2

On May 3, 2024, Sony announced out of the blue that as of May 6, any Helldivers 2 users on PC needed to be connected to a valid PlayStation Network account to play the shooter. This meant if you were playing Helldivers 2 for the first time from May 6 onwards, you would need to link your Steam account to a PSN account—if you didn’t have one already.

If you were an existing user, you would have until May 30 before login notices would start appearing.

Needless to say, this caused a huge uproar from many in the gaming community—and even the developer itself. Within hours of the announcement, Helldivers 2 Steam reviews tanked, going from Overwhelmingly Positive to Overwhelmingly Negative very quickly.

The review bombing was encouraged by a Helldivers 2 community manager, who encouraged players to change their reviews to negative. They went one step further and told players to refund Helldivers 2 as well—an action they were purportedly nearly fired for.

The main reason behind the anger was because many countries don’t have PSN, and the decision immediately made Helldivers 2 unavailable in 177 countries, according to SteamDB.

Sony sees the error of its ways

After over 200,000 negative reviews, Sony made a follow-up announcement on May 6 to say the planned update “will not be moving forward.”

“We’re still learning what is best for PC players and your feedback has been invaluable,” Sony said. “Thanks again for your continued support of Helldivers 2 and we’ll keep you updated on future plans.”

In the end, players won, although Helldivers 2 unfortunately and inadvertently had to suffer the brunt of the backlash. The rush to refund Helldivers 2 on PlayStation and Steam has died down and the dust appears to be settling. Not only that, but the player base is now looking to save the game’s rating and get it back to where it was before.

This seems to be working as recent Steam reviews are back to “Mixed,” at time of writing, and the positive feeling should help to restore balance to Helldivers 2.