In a resounding win for the gaming community, after Sony reversed its decision to make PSN linking mandatory, Arrowheads’ CEO Jhan Pilestedt praised Helldivers 2 players for their unity in tough times and setting the groundwork for a new standard for upcoming live service games.
“We together want to set a new standard for what a live game is,” Pilestedt said on May 6, adding to the need for “developers and the community to support each other to create the best game experience.”
Helldivers 2‘s developer played with fire last weekend, requiring players to link their PlayStation Network accounts to their Steam accounts to continue playing the game. The move drew criticism towards the developer, leading to Steam reviews plummeting to “overwhelmingly negative,” with everybody showcasing their displeasure.
Millions of players from 177 countries feared losing access to Helldivers 2, with the PlayStation Network unavailable in their countries. According to the developer, account linking was temporarily optional due to technical errors. The developer made it a mandatory requirement after it fixed the issues.
In light of the backlash, Sony went back on its words and assured players the requirement would remain optional. The development has also paved the way for many upcoming live-service games, which could refer to this saga. This incident was nothing short of a revolution in retrospect.
