Helldivers 2 Steam ratings hit rock bottom as PSN account linking causes millions to lose access

Over the last three days, Helldivers 2‘s Steam ratings have reached an all-time low at ‘overwhelmingly negative,’ drawing harsh criticism from the players over the requirement to connect their PSN account to their Steam account or lose the ability to play the game in the future.

“The greater problem is PSN being ancient and letting you do accounts only in specific countries, not global ones. It’s a huge problem,” vented one user on Reddit. “They started advertising it in several places as specifically not needing one, the login made it seem like you would never really need one, and they sold it in regions where it wasn’t even possible to make one,” expressed another, feeling that Helldivers 2 made it “optional” to have that PSN linking and they’ve purposefully misled the gamers.

The developers issued a notice on May 3, informing players that the ‘grace period’ for linking their Steam accounts to the PlayStation Network is coming close. The announcement left many players scrambling to comply, voicing their outrage on social media and fearing the potential loss of their game access.

As a result of Arrowhead’s decision, Helldivers 2 will no longer be accessible in 177 countries, including Japan, Maldives, and many more nations where PSN is not available to purchase, according to SteamDB.

At the time of writing, Helldivers 2 has accumulated 486,090 reviews from players who have purchased the game on Steam, and 153,500 negative reviews have come after May 3.

According to the developers, account linking was temporarily made optional due to technical issues at the game’s launch, but those issues have now been resolved. Moreover, they state that “Account linking provides a consistent and reliable means of reporting, moderation, actioning and appeal for players.”

Adding fuel to the player’s burning hesitation is Sony’s stolen data breach by a ransomware group in 2023, making gamers second-guess their data protection protocols as well. 

One of the community managers of Helldivers 2, Spitz, responding to the community’s questions on the game’s Discord server, said, “It’s unrealistic to expect people to make PSN accounts in different regions to get past the account linking requirement.” He reassured players that internal discussions are currently ongoing to find a “better solution,” adding that the developers won’t make this mandatory for those lacking the ability to do so, adding, “We’re not going to force people to either break Sony TOS or not play the game.

In light of the backlash, Jhan Pilestedt, the CEO of Arrowhead Game Studios, said on X, formerly Twitter, on May 5, “We are talking solutions with PlayStation, especially for non-PSN countries. Your voice has been heard, and I am doing everything I can to speak for the community – but I don’t have the final say.” A permanent solution still awaits.