Helldivers 2 recent account linking announcement may leave many unable to play

Helldivers 2 recently came under fire from players for making it necessary to link your PlayStation Network account to Steam. Arrowhead Game Studios got a ton of praise and attention in recent months, thanks to the overwhelmingly positive reception of its latest title. However, with a recent update to the game, the developer seems to have tarnished Helldivers' reputation, even among the release's hardcore fanbase.

Arrowhead Game Studios recently announced the integration of PSN with the PC version of Helldivers 2. And it's worth noting that linking your Steam account to the PSN isn't optional and is required to even start playing the game. Unfortunately, due to the PlayStation not being available in some regions where Helldivers is being sold, the title may have been rendered unplayable for many players.

Gamers have now taken to social media to vent about the mandatory account linking involving PSN and Steam and how it has led to Helldivers 2 being virtually unplayable for a bunch of people.

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PSN account linking may have rendered Helldivers 2 unplayable for many players on PC

A recent tweet by @Helldiversmedia showcased how Helldivers 2 is now unplayable for players in China since PSN is restricted in that region. While it isn't a big deal for many, given almost every big publisher nowadays necessitates first-party accounts, especially on PC, it's still a bummer for players who prefer to opt out of such practices.

Following the changes made to Helldivers 2, the game's Steam reviews have taken a nosedive from "Very Positive" to "Mostly Negative," a status mostly reserved for buggy and downright broken titles.

Although console players aren't affected by this change, the mandatory PSN-account-linking requirement is quite jarring for PC users, given the game was working perfectly fine without the same for months since its release. It also doesn't help that the mandatory PSN login comes just a week after Sony announced the PlayStation overlay for PC.

This feature is debuting on the PC with Ghost of Tsushima on May 16, 2024, and is aimed at bridging the gap between PlayStation and computers. Although Sony did mention that the PS overlay will be completely optional, it is required if players want to use cross-play features for the "Legends" multiplayer mode.

Considering how Sony has made PSN mandatory for Helldivers 2, it can be speculated that the same will happen with Ghost of Tsushima PC and all future PlayStation PC titles. This is doubly true for all multiplayer projects that Sony plans to bring to the PC and PS5 on day one, including the upcoming Horizon multiplayer title, Concord, etc.

While there's certainly nothing wrong with having to log in using a PlayStation account (it takes only a couple of minutes at best, to do so), it's still not a good look for a game that was heralded as one of the most pro-consumer live-service titles out there.