Discussion Helldivers 2 has been removed from 177 countries following PSN linking requirement Edit: Walked back PSN linking

[Sheldon]

"Still learning PC" is an embarrassing admission, but contrary to usual excuses it's not totally inaccurate PR spin.

Linking publisher-exclusive accounts is standard for GaaS titles on PC and consoles. So naturally Sony would think to copy it. They just forgot, oops, to get their account system, which was designed with a console ecosystem in mind, ready for a PC ecosystem first.

 

[Steve]

Curious to see how this affect developers who wanted to work for Sony, after seeing the colossal fuckup and the force handed nature Sony did by asking for mandatory PS account, thankfully linking PS account isn’t mandatory now, but I think this will somehow affect how people view Sony. (Mostly developers I think)

Like the solution was so painfully obvious of making PS account be optional and heck, for those who uses PS account get some rewards like a costume or some credits.

Overall this has been extremely entertaining to watch and thankfully Sony saw and realised the amount of refunds people were asking for Valve. Hopefully we’ll not see something similar happening anytime soon.

 

[FiniteInfinities]

The level of incompetence here on Sony's part is frankly baffling. How is it possible to mismanage a situation so poorly?

First, why are you launching your game with PSN integration broken!?

Second, why is PSN not available in all countries that Steam is!?

And then why are you selling a game that will require PSN in countries where you don't support it!?

Then, when the backlash hits, they choose the worst way to go about dealing with it. Meeting demands halfway never goes well, and almost always leads to pathetically backing down all of the way later. They either should have gone with Nintendo's or Xbox's PR strategy. Nintendo always ignores backlash because it's a sacrifice they're willing to make to get whatever concession they want. (DMCA takedowns, shutting down tournaments, limited time releases, etc). Xbox almost always reverses course and concedes at the first sign of any backlash. (Xbox Live Gold price hike, Redfall, Halo Infinite). It works well for them, so pick a strategy! Either cut your losses early and lose out on the PSN sign ups or just ignore the backlash and move on!

And then you're "still learning PC". BS! You've shipped multiple PC games! What you need to learn is competent PSN infrastructure and a PR strategy!

Now Sony is left with all of the backlash and loss of goodwill with no new PSN sign ups. I struggle to come up with a way they could have handled this worse. Luckily for them, public outrage is fickle and we'll all have forgotten about this after their next showcase.

Sorry for the rant, the brand manager in me is just so perplexed by this.

 

[Aether]

My understanding is that it was supposed to be a day 1 requirement, but they couldn't get it working in time, so just launched the game, with the ToS and some store notes indicating that it would be eventually required. But obviously, that's going to be ignored by 95% of people, and they really needed to give this like... months of lead time with benefits thrown in for linking early in order to have mitigated the backlash.

Even then, selling a game in countries you know won't be able to play it eventually is a problem of its own. If the linking was always part of it, the game should have never launched in countries where it's not legally possible.

 

[Steve]

Even then, selling a game in countries you know won't be able to play it eventually is a problem of its own. If the linking was always part of it, the game should have never launched in countries where it's not legally possible.

This is somehow Wii U level of incompetence, like they should have just sold the game with region that supports PSN and call it a day.

 

[Tentacle-tropes]

Tbf them own goaling like this is in character w/previous screw-ups such as the whole cross-play saga; which they eventually walked back on. Seems whenever they wanna implement walled garden stuff Sony loves pushing a boulder up a hill.

 

[Krvavi Abadas]

i'm immediately reminded of the discourse currently going on with Cities: Skylines 2, where the original game was being pushed as an underdog destroying EA's Crown (it was released some time after Simcity 2013) only for the team to eventually slip up with the sequel.

though in this case it's incredibly clear the issue was entirely out of Arrowhead's control, despite a few people inexplicably blaming them for it.

I think the funniest thing about all this is Sony probably could have avoided this whole mess AND still gotten a boost to their PSN signups if they instead had Helldivers offer an incentive for linking accounts, like some free Super Credits or a cape or something.

they have been doing this for their single-player games, actually.

it's also worth noting they still aren't done considering the PSN requirement for multiplayer. as Ghosts Of Tsushima was previously confirmed to require it weeks before this incident.
i suspect Sucker Punch might be able to convince Sony to delay the port to remove the requirement, though.

 

[Concernt]

apparently it's all islands (Excluding Hawaii). French Guiana is also excluded despite literally being a part of France

I didn't know it was legal or possible to exclude French Guiana from a digital service. Like, delivery exclusions? Par for the course. Account access?! It's FRANCE!

(I realise it's not all that unreasonable depending on the service I'm just kind of surprised at the number of services that count and treat it seperately though.)

 

[Lugia667]

update: Ghosts of Tsushima is now also restricted