what's going on with helldivers? : steam

[–] [email protected] 105 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

The issue isn't so much the PSN requirement, its the PSN requirement after 4 months of building up your character and buying in game currency. If this had been a requirement on day 1, people would grumble, but it wouldn't cause outrage. It's a rug pull, a subversion of expectations, the antithesis of what AH was supposed to be doing.

it feels like a betrayal.

Not to mention the required PSN account, means you now have to accept the PSN terms and conditions and if you don't you lose 4 months of character work and any in game currency you bought..

PLUS PSN is only available for 69 countries, about 33% of all countries in the world. That means many helldivers simply cannot make a PSN account at all, and are facing the prospect of losing everything (unless they lie to make a PSN account using a VPN, which is banned by the PSN terms of service, so a real catch-22).

.... so.... a betrayal

[–] slazer2au 20 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Not to mention Sonys inability to keep data safe.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 months ago

Correct: https://firewalltimes.com/sony-data-breach-timeline/

[–] maaneeack 42 points 6 months ago (1 children)

The PSN account, which is free, was required but turned off during launch. It's been working fine. Now if you don't link your PSN to steam you can't play after the end of this month. You lose a PC game on steam because you don't have a PlayStation Network account.

It's totally unnecessary and Sony has a shit cyber security track record.

Sony has shot the game developer in the face with this.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

A couple friends of mine worked on the PS3 launch title "Lair" back in the day. Sony brass demanded, at the 11th hour, that they completely change the control scheme to use the braindead PS3 motion controller nonsense. The game wasn't perfect but, before that decision, it was at least playable. Game launch was a disaster. San Diego studio closed. Execs who made that decision probably got promoted. They've always been like this.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

The tl;dr seems to be:

After such and such date (end of the month I think? Sometime soon either way) you will be required to sign in with a PSN account in order to play. Some say this was not advertised when the game launched, some say it was (I believe people found wayback machine captures that say it was but I may be wrong. Some people don't want this, some countries aren't allowed to sign up for PSN accounts outright (and if they have Helldivers 2 they would then be losing access technically).

Sony offered up the usual explanation of security and whatnot, which most aren't accepting that as Valve/VAC do the job of security, leading most to assume it's a way for Sony to gather more info and data from customers which they can then sell or otherwise market somehow.

Overall souring people on the whole situation of a bit of a bait-and-switch.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 6 months ago (1 children)

If Sony cared about security they wouldn't require you to install a ~~rootkit~~ anticheat to play the game

[–] [email protected] 17 points 6 months ago

Sony: The reason I stopped at the PS4 lol.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

I was honestly not too personally bothered at first, since the change might not affect me. Still, when I found out others might be screwed by Sony when PSN is enforced, I stand in solidarity with them.

Additionally, Sony says that PSN isn't required to play PlayStation games on PC: From Steam Keys that were purchasable directly from Sony:

Archive.org link

Do I need a PSN account to play PlayStation games on PC?

No, you currently do not need a PSN account to enjoy PlayStation Studios games on PC, but you will need a Steam account to redeem your voucher code. Some of our PlayStation Studios titles also offer incentives for linking your PSN and Steam accounts.

[–] InternetCitizen2 19 points 6 months ago

Sony executives need line go up on active users for PSN.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 months ago

Seems like you've basically figured it out.

[+] [email protected] -8 points 6 months ago (2 children)

The requirement was always listed on the page.

It not being enforced seemed to make people think that now they have a right to be mad about it.

I just don't see a case for this upset. What am I missing? The requirement was spelled out the whole time.

All I see is people not reading the not-fine-at-all print and then being upset when the rule starts being enforced.

I honestly don't understand the problem here.

Now why it was offered for sale in regions that can't use PSN is a mystery. Those accounts should definitely be refunded beyond the "normal" refund window and Steam needs to pay attention to that kind of thing a lot better than this. They wouldn't have necessarily known that the account wasn't possible for them, so that's totally understandable.

But for those who are in a country that can get the account, I just don't see a leg for them to stand on here.

If I'm missing something here please tell me. I love using my pitchfork. But I just don't see justification here specifically.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I saw someone else say that on their FAQ page it said the PSN account is optional but now that page was edited. So that's a little scummy

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

I'm talking about the store page. Not everyone will see the FAQ, but they do see the store page.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I just don't see a leg for them to stand on here

Sony has been hacked half a million times, why should I give them more data when they've shown the game doesn't need the link to function perfectly fine? This is all data collection bullshit and the more we allow it to happen, the more normalized it becomes, the more people like you "don't see a leg to stand on here".

[–] mhague 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

I don't understand feeling those things and then choosing to buy a Sony game that requires a Sony account, normalizing and supporting such practices. Giving people money is far more of a normalization tactic.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

I didn't, that mention said it was potential some games might have PSN linking on Sony's side, and I didn't see any such actual requirement on the game itself. That's why I refunded my game when this started, this is nonsense and I won't support it.

[+] Donjuanme -20 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Is PSN a mandatory paid subscription service? I suspect it isn't and this will further entrench the notion that "games" as a group come off as way too sensitive.

[–] khannie 22 points 6 months ago

From what I've seen - It's not paid but folks who bought the game without having to have a PSN account are pissed that they're going to have all their data shared with Sony when they didn't agree to it at purchase time.

I would be too.