It’s been a horrible day for Helldivers 2 and the workforce behind it. Indignant gamers swarmed the co-op shooter’s Steam web page to review-bomb it like an enormous hive of Terminids after a PlayStation Community login requirement was reinstituted on PC. “Ouch, proper within the evaluation rating,” Arrowhead Studios CEO Johan Pilestedt tweeted after the hit sport’s ranking turned to “combined” on the Valve-owned storefront.
“Nicely, I suppose it’s warranted,” the top developer continued. “Sorry everybody for the way this all transpired. I hope we are going to make it up and regain the belief by offering a continued nice sport expertise.” The assertion got here after a extra formal acknowledgement of the scenario earlier within the day that merely advised gamers to contact Sony’s assist workforce if that they had any questions. 1000’s extra adverse critiques had poured in since.
The outrage started final evening when gamers on PC observed that the Sony-published sport’s PSN login requirement had returned. Initially eliminated amid huge server pressure in Helldivers 2‘s early launch interval, it was the primary time many new gamers had been seeing it. Regardless of being a comparatively fast and straightforward course of, the concept of getting to create a second login and hand over their info to the PlayStation 5 producer didn’t sit effectively with many. It’s even precipitated a mini-civil conflict between gamers on console who don’t assume it’s a giant deal and people on PC irritated they now need to play by one other platform’s guidelines. There are additionally a variety of locations around the globe the place PSN isn’t supported, doubtlessly locking these gamers out of the sport.
Steam’s combination evaluation scores could make or break a sport’s gross sales prospects. Whereas Helldivers 2 has already secured its standing as one of many top-selling video games of the 12 months, anybody new stumbling upon it for the primary time may mistake the combined ranking for a sign that there was truly one thing functionally fallacious with it. Valve has struggled to cope with review-bombing campaigns for years, making an attempt to extend the necessities for leaving critiques and filtering out bogus complaints to guard the integrity of its retailer scores.
Pilestedt’s earlier tweet was hit with a “neighborhood notice” claiming that the shopper assist web page he referenced mentioned PSN logins had been elective on PC whereas the one for Helldivers 2 was necessary. A number of the outpouring of frustration has additionally resulted within the sport’s neighborhood managers being focused on-line for harassment by offended followers. Not everybody’s upset. “So long as I don’t need to obtain a launcher I’m good lol,” wrote one participant in assist of Pilestedt and his workforce. “Thanks for the superb sport!”
Replace 5/5/2024 10:08 a.m. ET: Over 48 hours later, Helldivers 2 continues to be getting bombarded by adverse person critiques on Steam after it re-implemented its controversial PSN login requirement. The net shooter now has a ranking of “overwhelmingly adverse” from greater than 150,000 current complaints. Democracy manifest, I suppose.
Valve additionally seems to have begun processing refunds for some players in areas the place PSN accounts aren’t supported, even when that they had dozens of extra hours of playtime within the sport than the standard two hour restrict. The corporate behind Steam has additionally pulled Helldivers 2 from sale on the digital storefront in these international locations, together with locations like Egypt, Serbia, Philippines, and Puerto Rico. Concurrent participant numbers, whereas down barely from current weeks, seem to stay largely unchanged, nonetheless. One participant requested Arrowhead Studios what they need to do now that the sport is just not supported of their nation. “I don’t know,” replied Pilestedt.
“Waking as much as the sunshine of yesterday changed with a dreary drizzle and shivering winds makes me replicate on how I spent my time these uncommon few moments when all was excellent,” he tweeted earlier immediately. “But rain is important to progress and is what adjustments spring into summer time. I’ll simply have to attend for sunshine to return.”
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