Sony reverse Helldivers 2 mandate to link PSN account after mass protest, community rejoice

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3: / because_people_ask_why...
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5: www.ign.com/articles/sony-is-...
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7: / 1787073896560165299
8: / some_discord_updates
9 (MAIN): / 1787331667616829929
10: / 1787365793379791051
11: / 1787370710597312605
12: / news_from_playstation_...
13: / now_please_change_the_...
14: store.steampowered.com/app/55...
15: steamcharts.com/app/553850
16: / 1787016207364657340
17: steamdb.info/sub/137730/history/
18: / 1786923196098511284
19: / 1787311190559121497
20: / sony_doesnt_allow_ukra...
21: / 1786554504789598547
22: www.playstation.com/en-us/sup...
23: direct.playstation.com/en-us/...
TOP PATRONS
[BIG BOSS]
- Devon B
[BOSS]
- Charlie Galvin
- Gerardo Andrade
- Michael Redmond
[LEGENDARY]
- azalea

[@YongYea]

Democracy at work. PATREON: www.patreon.com/yongyea TWITTER: twitter.com/yongyea INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/yong_yea TIKTOK: www.tiktok.com/@yongyea TOP PATRONS [BIG BOSS] - Devon B [BOSS] - Charlie Galvin - Gerardo Andrade - Michael Redmond [LEGENDARY] - azalea

[@VolkColopatrion]

Thor says we have not won. Sony has still censoring games Sony is still blocking games from being bought in the company

[@teddyholiday8038]

Sony will absolutely try this again

[@Dildonion]

The CEO literally lied to everyone and said he knew this would happen and didnt speak up allowing for people to be robbed and complicit in the bait and switch i give him no credit for anything.

[@VolkColopatrion]

@@Dildonion that should be a class action bring it up to those who care and I'm not joking with that please bring it up to lawyers

[@VolkColopatrion]

@@teddyholiday8038 they absolutely will. We need to find better protections

[@mightylink65]

"We're still learning what anti-consumer practices we can get away with for PC players."

[@SunlightGwyn]

Lmfao, true.

[@zacmeadows2294]

They'll be more prepared next time, we better remain vigilant.

[@maltheri9833]

Soon as you make those accounts give it a few years and you'll be paying 20 bucks to play on their networks in no time at all 😂😂

[@Herowebcomics]

I'll help! NONE OF THEM!😡

[@RedDuke03]

​@@maltheri9833Which is why we wont be making those accounts. Problem solved.

[@AlmightyDM]

Once again, the Helldivers complete a major order in less than 48 hours

[@TheKianykin]

Democracy never sleeps!

[@jonathanpretty5031]

Lol thats great!

[@dante8506]

Freedom never sleeps!!!!

[@RealistReviewer]

It's not over till they take some action, so far no action taken, just words.

[@wruenvadam]

@@RealistReviewer Well they didn't actually do anything yet. They said they were going to do something and now they arent going to. There's nothing to undo because they never got the chance to start in the first place. So fear not. We have truly won.

[@opus_X]

Here's a translation of their apology for people who don't speak corporate PR: "Helldivers fans -- Steam issued refunds and the EU contacted us about fraud charges. You won this round, for now. We're still learning how to rip you off legally, and we're not quite where we want to be."

[@syeddanishanwer]

🤣😂. I for one will never ever buy any Sony product going forward.

[@KL53986]

Steam didnt liked this either, so to avoid legal troubles, they issued refund for those that didnt want to deal with PSN, or were outside of those 69 countries

[@user-zr7jd3lm6m]

Ya, I'm not reinstalling. This isn't a victory; it's an omen.

[@762x69]

​@@user-zr7jd3lm6mHot take but you can enjoy your game. I would just consider not supporting any future Sony initiatives for a while.

[@trashaimgamer7822]

​@@user-zr7jd3lm6mKay but don't come crying how modern gaming sucks just because your own stubbornness gets in the way even after an issue has been resolved.

[@AvanCade]

Don'tcelebrate too early. They pull it now, wait for things to cool down and figure out how to handle the countries that arent covered by PSN and once they do, it is back on the menu. If Sony mandates PSN for all online PS studio games then they are probably not allowing this exception to exist.

[@stanknight9159]

Yep. Just wait, in a few weeks, after the refund window has closed then they will try again. People don't think forward and think companies give a shit about their friendship.

[@SoulAtParadise]

ding ding you win. we have to see wait and see.

[@damedrops8197]

Nobody really won anything by getting Sony to reverse it. They think they won, but they really didn't. It was all a test from the start to see how much Sony can get away with.

[@robsilvester6213]

If the store page isn't restored for the non-PSN areas, that's a big red flag that they want to circle back around to mandating account linkage when this blows over. It means they want the "I can't get PSN here" liability minimized or eliminated.

[@damedrops8197]

Nobody won anything. This was all carefully planned from the start by Sony. Just to see how far they were willing to go and get away with it.

[@carlbloke8797]

The power of bullying arrogant egoist corporations. You love to see it.

[@KentaroMiyamoto21]

Don't use that word. It makes US look like the bad guys.

[@DolusVulpes]

​@@KentaroMiyamoto21idunno, I feel like the corpos have set the bar pretty high for "looking like the bad guys"

[@Konyyaan]

@@KentaroMiyamoto21if u bully a bigger bully does that really make u a bully

[@Gabex42]

@@Konyyaan Yes

[@KentaroMiyamoto21]

@@Konyyaan Um.... no clue.

[@teddyholiday8038]

Democracy Won

[@Revenant-oq9ts]

This battle. But Sony will learn to make future games require PSN from the get go.

[@skaetur1]

⚖️

[@trevorjamieson8892]

I love democracy.

[@teddyholiday8038]

@@Revenant-oq9ts yeah it’s worth noting that the HD2 store still lists PSN account as a requirement. Sony will try this again

[@TertiusVarus]

The war is not over. We must show them how hard every man, woman, and child over seven will work to prevail.

[@Zergdragon]

We didn't win. The game is reportedly still unavailable for purchase by every country that doesn't have proper access to PSN, and odd issues related to the latest patch have started appearing in discussions. Mark my words, Sony hasn't given up on this; they're trying to figure out how to make mandating PSN accounts seem reasonable or necessary before they try again.

[@MayBeSomething]

The fact that Antarctica is on the list of countries that can't purchase HD2 means that there was a point when HD2 was buyable in Antarctica. Are the penguins helping us spread Democracy?

[@JaneNayes]

Antarctica is not a country

[@1985Seraphim]

@@JaneNayeswho cares we need penguins to promote democracy!

[@nosotrosloslobosestamosreg4115]

​@@1985Seraphimpenguins are the Sea Divers of Super Earth.

[@ADRzone]

Antártica actually has many living there... There's a world peace treaty that is only held and respected for Antartica, why? Well... who knows, but is the only place in the world where all countries are united by... So yes Helldivers 2 just as all other games can be purchased down there as long as the person has internet access.

[@shaundaly1134]

Steam telling Sony "You will owe us $8 million dollars for refunded games" was probably the cause for Sony backing down.

[@G-Cole-01]

8 million pound dollars

[@mrheisenberg83]

@@G-Cole-01 just poundin' it.

[@Azygos1986]

Good point!

[@rah_sollest]

Yep. Money talks there~

[@devilmikey00]

Yeah, I have a feeling the true cost of just how many refunds they were going to have to eat is the real reason for backing down. I want to cheer that the community was the reason but Sony is a corporation and it simply came down to cost benefit. This decision was probably made without much forethought or idea of the logistics of what it would mean. Seems to be they thought "wow, this games popular so let's boost are PSN numbers!" without realizing how many dominos that would knock over.

[@zygo0]

Hopefully Arrowhead takes an extra 5 minute lunch break because I can’t imagine that was a very relaxing weekend.

[@PokeGuy6]

Extra 5 mins? Give them a holiday!

[@theelusivepootisberd7471]

​@@PokeGuy6and maybe fire their community manager

[@jonny45k44]

​@@theelusivepootisberd7471 Isn't that the guy who owned up to his mistake and apologized? I'd rather keep them if that's the case Edit: As it turns out, it was NOT the same person. Thank you to those who pointed it out

[@Raytheharbinger0]

​@@theelusivepootisberd7471 Why? Arrowhead had zero say in the PSN crap. It was all Sony.

[@joantheringo1192]

La culpa es mas de Sony que de ellos. Sorry I don't speak english

[@DarkFenix2k5]

It's been a beautiful sight lately, I play both Total War: Warhammer 3 and Helldivers 2. Both games became victim to egregious corporate exploitation in their own way. Both games received a *furious* backlash the likes of which I've never before seen in gaming. Both companies were forced to take a step back, think, and course correct.

[@criticallol3039]

This is like the biggest "LARP" in history. A major order was given, Helldivers rose to the challenge and completed the order.

[@Elhao]

"We have heard your feedback..." Hard not to hear a nuclear bomb exploding in one's backyard.

[@bluegolisano7768]

Sony really did just get Dizzy Xrd instakilled. big funny.

[@davfree9732]

"War... War never changes." "... Unless your fighting for Super Earth!"

[@MrFunzerker]

You do hear for a split second and then your hearing is gone as well as yourself

[@0fficialdregs]

especially when PS gamers were also cancelling subscriptions too

[@Blodhelm]

Have a nice cup...of Liber-TEA!

[@sTriPpa]

"We're listening" lol more like "We consulted our lawyers and if we don't walk this back then our ass is grass in a huge class-action lawsuit"

[@kazesh9148]

A big win still, but they already lost my trust. I’ll have to think twice before I buy any game of theirs on pc.

[@thecrtf4953]

​@@kazesh9148 I have no doubts studios may be more hesitant to have them publish thier stuff

[@aahzmandiaz2767]

.... in multiple countries.

[@polca4love]

Wouldn't surprise me that Valve also threatened with legal action, since this also affected their money.

[@Avidire]

😂 imagine hundreds of thousands of lawsuits happening. Even Valve doesnt want this ish and have just refunded people.

[@YaraUwU]

"To many people were refunding the game and we care more about money then anything".

[@general330]

Man, reading Tweets from the Arrowhead CEO was very sad. You could tell he was heartbroken over this nonsense. When that man said "I just want to make games", i just pictured that dude in his office chair, leaned forward with his head in his hands, on the verge of crying. You can tell when someone is Tweeting while angry. That wasnt him, he was Tweeting while depressed. Good to see his Tweets being a bit more lively today. Well done, Helldivers.

[@noesse4736]

To everyone who complained "wHy nOT JuST mAKe aN aCCouNt?", shut the hell up.

[@saschaberger3212]

Unbelievable idiots. I've seen too many. Should be ashamed

[@JCWinters-bu8de]

If the CM of Arrow Head acknowledged the gravity of that requirement in some countries- it’s astounding how these Sony Fanponies can’t research why that was a big deal. Such ignorance.

[@Xl_Fenrir_lX]

Why even bother bringing attention to the loud minority? Most players by far are irritated by this, I can tell you that most people are not saying “go make an account “

[@kotlolish]

Because some people have no concept of global politics and lisencing. They think: "Ooh just make an account it's easy. I can do it in 5 minutes." To not understand: "In Country X, it's forbidden. Attempting to go around it will result in a ban from the game." And they think it's just 1 or 3 countries and use a VPN. But again they do NOT understand this either... that it's 177 countries and VPN's are forbidden. Just tell em how bad it is and how thousands or maybe millions of players can never play this game or lose the abillity to play the game they paid for.

[@TheInnocentRabbitofCaerbannog]

Nothing but frogs in a slow boiling pot; braindead consumers Same people who dont care about privacy laws against the gov because "i HaVe nOThInG tO hIDe"

[@davidjsaul]

Let's not give Sony any credit here. The fact they even tried it in the first place shows how much contempt they have for their customers. I'd imagine this is actually due to a lawyer telling them they'd have a reasonable chance of losing a class action lawsuit if they pushed ahead.

[@edwardlomeli5657]

So don’t give arrowhead that knew about this the entire time and never communicating it. Arrowhead has sucked at communicating and Pr time and time again. Like how they blamed the community for not being good at the game when they made the game harder and slowed down rewards

[@cell9899]

Take this big win and move on.

[@MrWhiterunGuard]

The amount of refunds alone would have made this not worth it for them.

[@thephantomx6467]

What’s funny is last night, they also lost a big chunk of Investment money. I saw a meme about it and I looked it up myself. The backlash was so bad that even investors didn’t like it.

[@stanknight9159]

@@cell9899 Take this big win and learn from it. Companies are not your friends.

[@MaxLittleBuddy]

As of May 12 those regions are still region locked. Sony even added more region locks. The community get played like a fiddle

[@kingdaddyc-mac4516]

So this is how democracy wins...with thunderous applause

[@stoormtrooper22]

Now THIS is Mandated Democracy!!!

[@XxVonsoulxX]

Managed*

[@SecretMarsupial]

@@XxVonsoulxXNah the general public, through collective action and their lack of tolerance for this BS, mandated this result.

[@lilporky8565]

​@@SecretMarsupialThis is the power of voting.

[@BRUCEYBOY]

​@SecretMarsupial In the game its called "Managed Democracy" he was just referencing the popular quote as a joke. Mandated also works

[@XxVonsoulxX]

@@SecretMarsupial I'd start looking up the joke flew right over.

[@galliumgames3962]

🇺🇸🤝🇵🇷 Me and my Puerto Rican friends can now spread managed democracy as Sony doesn’t think Puerto Ricans are Americans for whatever reason 🤦🏻

[@chrisrakow9745]

Most real 'Murricans know y'all are our unofficial 51st state (American Samoa is 52nd and US Virgin Islands is technically 53rd)!

[@Fourtytwo4242]

@@chrisrakow9745 Hope some day when our political shit gets it act together we can finally allow Puerto Rico to become our 51st state.

[@arnoldschwarzenschnitzel6248]

We dive together or we don’t dive at all, glad to have you liberating with us once again

[@maltheri9833]

​@Fourtytwo4242 Bringing a country with a different culture of people isn't very easy. We've failed as many times as we succeeded. Hawaii was so destroyed by war they never could've survived without the Uzs. The Filipinos on the other hand had bloody revolution and war constantly to break colonization. Not every country wants to belong to another

[@LexYeen]

​@@maltheri9833fun fact: the states of the supposedly United States are basically countries.

[@TheLegendaryBillCipher]

I feel Sony did something criminal here. They knew the PSN account linking was going to be mandatory, but still sold the game in countries that don't have PSN access.

[@makunoichi12]

And that why EU Law was gonna eat them alive. Even their lawyers were like, unless you want to loose serious money, back down.

[@thequestion8697]

Even though they apologised and walked all this back, im still mad. The absolute arrogance that you have to have in order to do this in the first place is staggering and I feel like they only apologised because it was just a genuinely bad business decision from a money perspective. Even from a purely emotionless businessman perspective, this move was just downright stupid. Enforcing a policy that restricts over a hundred countries from playing your live service game, that I assume they wanted to succeed, is indescribably stupid. But of course they didnt think that all those people were going to REFUND THE GAME and nearly cost them 8 BILLION DOLLARS. This is a next level corpo screw up not just because of the greed but the stupidity as well.

[@FlyingFocs]

I remember googling this and seeing a Forbes article calling out Sony for what a big mistake this was. I have to believe that's when they knew they f'ed up.

[@davidbondy2250]

Forbes unironically has some really good gaming coverage, especially since they employ journalist Paul Tassi.

[@justinjacobs1501]

Yup. They don't want their fellow corpos to think they did something dumb.

[@rodrigobogado8756]

@@davidbondy2250 it's not really hard since big gaming companies constantly fail at basic business management and locking your product in almost 200 countries just to lie to investors about your stupid account network is a whole new level of stupidity

[@CrystallineLore]

@@davidbondy2250 No, they just sometimes hire good freelance journalists who promptly gtfo once they finally get their publishing cred.

[@sweetwill6233]

Nah they probably finally got a call from the European branch who was like "You do realize that what you just did is technically breaking like 4 laws that each have a hefty fine and that they will be per user?" Sony: "Playstation, go to your room but before that reverse this decision now!" Playstation: Fine but fuck all those countries who aren't cool enough to be in the club, they can't have shit! Sony: *sigh*

[@Ebonheart2319]

Due to the legality of SELLING the game in PSN restricted nations, if they want to honeypot their PSN sub numbers they could do the old "link your account for an exclusive cosmetic." Instead they brute forced a likely illegal action and lost millions of bucks.

[@goblincomic4522]

IKR can't believe they forget that trick

[@Sorain1]

Amazing how foolish they are isn't it? I swear Good is so much better at figuring out how to do Evil effectively.

[@EskChan19]

Yeah. Plus people like free cosmetics. So a lot of people would have probably just done this without making such a fuss about it if they had done it this way instead of just shoving it down peoples throats, many of which couldn't even comply even if they wanted to.

[@SorarikoMotone]

thats exactly how its done in pso2, only even scummier - you get some cosmetics that only work if you play from console

[@shanematthews1985]

Except it's not illegal, the steam store page always told you an account would be required, none of you guys seemingly read that since it was added to the steam store page back in december

[@warpathh]

Always enjoy your reporting YongYea… Thanks so much for working to keep us up to date and informed!

[@paulrippcord506]

Still won’t trust Sony for their PC ports going forward, because they will try again.

[@Kagetora-]

Not all of their PC ports were bad.

[@paulrippcord506]

@@Kagetora- oh I agree and it’s not the quality of Helldivers 2 on PC that was the problem. I’m personally looking forward to Ghosts of Tsushima. The problem was Sony forcing PSN down players throats after the original EULA didn’t make mention of it.

[@ItsShatter]

This sets a precedent for collective action. Hopefully we see more of this in the future when corporations doubtlessly try to get away with more bs.

[@LexYeen]

You should look into the game preservation movement Ross Scott is heading.

[@Freedeeism]

Or they do like KZbin and remove thumbs down...

[@liger4414]

I wish we had this collective action when Microsoft forces us to make Xbox accounts to play Halo and other titles on PC. It should be optional, not forced.

[@starwarsevilanakin]

Destiny 2 needs to be liberated, you have to pay psn to unlock multiplayer in that game

[@_Cetarial]

@@LexYeenNothing will happen.

[@Abi-chanFictionFan]

It's not over, people. They still haven't reversed the inability to buy the game in countries where you can't have a PSN. And we aren't certain they won't try this crap again after 30th May.

[@pakifranks7727]

india works!!!!!

[@stanknight9159]

@@pakifranks7727 For now!

[@lts_Hazard]

This'll likely take some time, with this result there's no reason they should still be locked out of purchasing Helldivers 2.

[@lucas1309]

It wasn't Sony who removed the games from where PSN isn't available. Steam did it because you couldn't play it because you can't create an account in these countries to play the game you already bought and was playing. What's the point of a game where you can't even play it.

[@ejmthegreat1309]

Still don’t understand why living in a country where you can’t make a PSN account is a big deal. Even if Sony didn’t reverse course here you just make an account anyway and keep playing.

[@Buttz2Buttz]

What this should teach gamers, is if you target company's pockets, they will bend. Learn from this and continue this for other company's enacting anti-consumer practices. Do this to Blizzard, do this to Bethesda, do this to Crystal Dynamics, to anyone. Don't buy, mass review bomb, rally for a refund and if that doesn't work simply uninstall. And if they remove positive/negative reviews like YT did, don't use that platform in any way. This is how we get our games back.

[@jquikshot]

Did they actually reverse it tho? the community may need to rally again pretty soon...

[@BonesBrigader]

I felt bad as shit for those people. Can't imagine all of a sudden guess what? You can't play. Screw that!

[@karnagefails333]

I was in the same ship. I figure if we took this one to the face, it's that many more players I won't have as teammates to keep games running even though I'm on console.

[@b9904]

Basically me until the back pedal.

[@NiiChan_MWP]

We didn't win, we just held the line. Sony has ruined their trust with consumers even further. Always be skeptical going forward when it comes to any further games published and localized on the Sony platform and push back if you smell bs.

[@chmarr]

sony lost the trust of the public since 2011 when they got hacked and denied it for ..... 6 weeks, sony needs to realise people dont want another account to sign into just to play a game

[@liger4414]

This goes for any publisher, actually. Microsoft still forces people to make Xbox accounts to play their games and people let it slide every day when it should be made optional. Let's not get started on what Nintendo does to their own playerbase and what publishers like EA, Activision-Blizzard, Ubisoft, etc try to push and get away with. All of gaming needs a restructuring...

[@ryanartward]

HELLDIVERS LEND ME YOUR EARS! Sony is now doing the same with GHOST OF TSUSHIMA! Suckerpunch Studio calls for aid!

[@AkaiZero]

We ain't won yet; they still have not revoked the ban in 177 countries. Please make an update video so people can be informed about it.

[@niceguyniko]

Why is nobody mentioning that they sold a game in regions where they KNEW players would be locked out. Just because they backed off doesn't mean you should support them.

[@jamesjiao]

It was mentioned in Yong's precious video .. briefly.

[@whoahanant]

Everyone's mentioned that a million times at this point across the internet because that's the main reason why what they did is illegal

[@jbktpl1245]

Indeed, that definitely played a big role for the rollback but yeah, I'm still watching Sony myself to see what other shady shenanigans they try in future.

[@damedrops8197]

Nobody really won, they think they did. It was all a test from the start to see how much Sony can get away with.

[@radek4634]

do you really think sony thought about this? they probably found out that it was a problem when people started complaining and the first refunds arrived. corporate mentality is mainly NOW, they worry about 'later' later, otherwise they wouldnt introduced those changes in the first place.

[@erikneill3590]

I don't even play this game and am not really interested, but I LOVE when the community actually gets heard and respected

[@VulcanXIV]

That's what's called having principles. I have the game on PC but linked my PSN to it on day1 so I could have cross play. I still support this movement because I'm not a schmuck who defends bad corporate actions

[@JordanGreen-yc8vv]

Same here I'll probably buy it on a steep sale 😊

[@TheKianykin]

I love the roleplay even when protesting the decisions of the game :)

[@KaiserMattTygore927]

Same.

[@Supercon57]

​@@VulcanXIVI only recently got the game and heard about this whole controversy (I played a lot of helldivers on Vita/PS3/PS4) You mentioned linking your account for cross play, which reminds me of how on Helldivers 1 the playerbase was split because the PC players couldn't play with the PlayStation players, and if I remember correctly they had their own war progression Which sucked because it would have been better for the war and matchmaking if they were merged In that sense I could see why requiring a PS account would make sense because they would essentially be eliminating the PC war progression and merging everyone onto the PS war progression

[@randomxgen6167]

The wild thing about this entire fiasco was how pro-sony some people were in the face of how pro-consumer Arrowhead was. No wonder the games industry is a pile of garbage; there's no end of consumers who will fight and die for the privilege to eat trash.

[@TheNamesJER]

I made a comment about how many missteps PS had made lately (HD2, PS+ price uphike, new consoles not coming with the vertical stand, etc) and someone called me a “psychotic gamer” for it 😂 the corpo white knights are wild

[@phlogistanjones2722]

They are simply waiting for you ALL to lower your guard. Eternal Vigilance is the price of freedom. They are not done. They will not relent. You have been warned. Peaceful Skies.

[@chincemagnet]

Sony will 100% implement this from the start next time, nothing has been discouraged.

[@saralotti7174]

Had it been implemented from the start we wouldn’t have purchased it. And we won’t ever purchase a game that requires it. Easy. If they want our money they can make it optional or not get our money.

[@IllIlIIllIlIIIll]

Cry about it

[@IllIlIIllIlIIIll]

PC gamers not being able to make a free account is wild. $5,000 down the drain crying aboht 40$ game. 💀​@saralotti7174

[@Magemaster55]

At least for those games people would have a chose to buy it or not.

[@nexviper]

It is already a listed requirement for Ghosts of Tsushima Directors Cut on Steam "Requires 3rd-Party Account: PlayStation Network (Online Multiplayer, PlayStation overlay) (Supports Linking to Steam Account)"

[@MG-zx8jn]

Sony Palpatine after walking back the decision: I love Democracy

[@khyrulanwaar4628]

Dont be so quick to forgive the big corpos. Always remember this, "if one plan fails, 10 other plans are waiting to happen".

[@reckergamer1879]

🖤 💛 NO DIVER LEFT BEHIND 🖤 💛 WE DIVE TOGETHER OR NOT AT ALL 🖤 💛 WE DID IT FELLOW DIVERS

[@Katryoshka]

Sweet Liber 🐝

[@imp8453]

We didn't win the war. Just the battle. We still gotta fight

[@yamivalkri]

we are still missing all the divers in the now blocked 170+ countries no diver left behind means NO DIVER LEFT BEHIND KEEP FIGHTING!

[@redohealer2]

I don't believe this is the last we'll see something like this.

[@aahzmandiaz2767]

Ghost of Tsushima has the same conditions on the Steam store page.

[@SalemikTUBE]

Definitely not. this was always about agreeing to Sony's AI listening in your chats in game and enabling banning across platforms. You will soon hear the wails of those who have signed up. All platforms will follow suit.

[@xan6980]

“ DEMOCRACY IS NON-NEGOTIABLE “

[@Mythic_Raven]

I have not seen a community with such passion for a game since the golden days of Halo. I never thought I'd see something like that again, and it truly makes me proud to be a Helldiver.

[@dudebruh8534]

*Major Order complete: The automaton spies operating in Sony Headquarters have been routed and thwarted.*

[@NimbleBard48]

Someone on Steam called them Snoy Headquarters and I liked that variation of their name xD One of the top comments: "THE HELLDIVERS HAVE SECURED SNOY HEADQUARTERS! ATTENTION ALL HELLDIVERS The Automatons who took over Snoy Headquarters have been successfully eliminated. LIBERTY now governs Super Earth once again. MANAGED DEMOCRACY shall now continue to spread throughout the galaxy. All Helldivers who fought in this battle shall be commended the highest honour."

[@amharbinger]

You know its a victory when we get Tank top Buff Yong

[@Kim-py3iv]

We need more victories against these big companies like this.

[@reginaldmustardbacon5866]

​@@Kim-py3ivfor the tank top

[@rogehmarbi]

I've been following him (admittedly on and off) since the MGSV leaks days but couldn't recall ever seeing him wearing tank top like this

[@dambawwe]

no one won besides sony

[@michyoung77]

Was glad to hear about this this morning

[@satanicfrogs9238]

FOR DEMOCRACY

[@TheInnocentRabbitofCaerbannog]

FOR GAMING LIBER-TEA

[@IllIlIIllIlIIIll]

No helldivers 3 because yall be crying like manbabies

[@roalpaur]

is not over yet, there still countries that dont have acces to the game

[@MassEffect1988]

I think more should be said of the sickening death threats that alot of "fans" were sending to Arrow Head devs... No excuse for it whatsoever

[@Blackfire495]

Yong been hitting the gym. Keep up the work fam 👍🏾👌🏾

[@SoraTheKobold]

im so proud of this community, beating corporate greed and SONY of all people giving in to backlash, this is a win for the gaming community as a whole also, Twinbeard appreciation is the best appreciation, great community manager

[@devilmikey00]

The thing is it wasn't even corporate greed. This was just the opposite of that lol This decision no matter how you slice it would have cost Sony money. There was no profit to be had what so ever with this decision. They'd have had to eat hundreds of thousands of refunds the world over and cut their user base in half over night for a live service game where keeping a large user base is a big deal for longevity. This was just a nonsensical decision. If anything the community won the right to keep paying Sony money lol

[@sophieedel6324]

Wait, the community "beat corporage greed" by fighting to access a game full of microtransactions?

[@magma_fire_bagwan]

all of the other community managers are incompetent

[@maltheri9833]

​@@sophieedel6324It's the least of all evils. The bar has been lowered already

[@Dragon-77D9]

​@sophieedel6324 microtransactions that can be earned in game, for free, in a relatively short period of time? Yea, it's worth defending.

[@subsume7904]

Did they not just see what EA did with Apex and account linking? People lost hundreds of dollars in skins in Apex recently when they were forced to link their accounts and the playerbase took a massive hit since then. What is it with these gaming companies and linking accounts? Money to be made?

[@rodrigobogado8756]

Didn't Apex always needed to link accounts to Steam?

[@hehemicaeljakson]

?? Lol no this season had more players, and the reason they lost some was because of the hacker

[@accidentalmadness1708]

They want that sweet sweet data.

[@DarkDyllon]

@@rodrigobogado8756 yeah it always did. it was just that some people had multiple accounts for whatever reason and couldn't link them all. then the other issue was that it was being rolled out in waves, but didn't tell people this bit of info first, so when people saw that people got the prompt to merge consoles with PC accounts, people checked and if they didn't have it, they would unlink and re-link their accounts, resulting in deleting all their cosmetics. (which to be fair, is the fault of the idiots who thought that unlinking and relinking your account was a good idea)

[@wdf70]

Data harvesting and number padding for investors. That's all. Benefit to customer? Security? They couldnt care less.

[@gamerzero9764]

Consumers will fight for access to products that are WORTH fighting for. Well done guys!

[@tomatomaki]

Thank you Chong Yue for the awesome news.

[@TrashComments]

It's very rare to see Sony bend the knee to the community, and I'm here for it! W to Sony for listening to us for a change

[@Moerdyr]

No, fuck Sony cause all these countries are still locked out of the game. Until they fix that fuck Sony.

[@usagifang]

Not yet. There are still countries that the game got delisted on and still delisted. We need to keep fighting for them and Sue Sony into bankruptcy.

[@isaiahbradfordiii4041]

Great job as usual Yong, I really appreciate your take on gaming issues and trends. You're doing fantastic.

[@Talon97]

They literally only did this for legal reasons. Lets not pretend this was some grand gesture on Sony's part lol.

[@saralotti7174]

🛎️

[@emilioa.bayardoarceo758]

I quote a X answer from a Helldivers post: "I hope this is a lesson to everyone, we have power as consumers. The corpos are beholden to us, not us to them".

[@LexYeen]

They need us to drive their trucks, They need us to shine their crowns, And they need us to be the cops who beat our comrades down.

[@Hawkatana]

*Twitter

[@DalamSCO]

Now we need the same for Stellar Blade.

[@micheljolicoeur6094]

I am certain the change ONLY came because Valve stopped selling the game in non-PSN countries and started issuing mass refunds in those regions. ONLY when Sony was faced with having to pay out all those refunds and hemmorage CASH did they change their mind. Thank Valve for putting the boot to Sony's ass.

[@gantzrunner]

I'm genuinely shocked.

[@BinkSayres]

To say that the issue is just about the Sony requiring linking of the PSN account isn't the whole issue. It's that they're doing it months after the fact, retroactively requiring it and forcing it on players in countries that cannot get a PSN account without a VPN which is completely against Sony's TOS. It's the bait and switch of the whole thing that got us up in arms. It's a type of anger that won't be seen with Ghosts of Tsushima because it's being put out there from the very beginning. Sony was scummy in that they've taken these players' money and are forcing a restriction they cannot fulfill. That's the anger. That's why this happened. With that said though, we're not done yet! There are still 177 countries worth of our fellow Brothers and Sisters in arms restricted from accessing their game. The region locks that Sony has pushed out are still in place and until that is rolled back, the fight is not over. We must remain united until this wrong against Managed Democracy and Freedom is righted. WE ALL DROP TOGETHER OR WE DON'T DROP AT ALL!

[@TheGentlemania]

This one right here 👍

[@Stinkdawg]

The account linking system WAS in HD2 at launch, but it was causing too many problems so Sony agreed to suspend it for a certain "grace period" so that Arrowhead could get it working properly. Arrowhead has straight up mentioned this as fact. It was always intended to be turned back on. With that said, the fact that Sony also sold the game in countries that can't make PSN accounts seems like a wild oversight and is quite suspicious.

[@Justmyhandle]

Every now and then, the suits of the industry just need a little reminder that we the consumers do NOT work for them. They work for us. They NEED us more than we need them. Without the gamers, there is no gaming industry. The businesses exist first & foremost to create products that serve that consumer base. The more they try to change that, the more the revenue for their corporations and their expensive perks that come with it will reflect the consequences. This is not unique to gaming, of course. Every business has the potential to foster this sort of problem, which is why consumers must remember their worth, vote with their wallets, and not enable such practices to continue. I'm no stranger to the temptation to bend the knee so you can play something you REALLY want to play. That's exactly what the greedy count on: For you to take the easy way out, forsake your value as a consumer, and just blindly consume. We live in a generation that's often very weak willed when it comes to chasing short term gratification. But resistance is the most effective means to keep the suits' perspective straight when they start to forget who butters their bread.

[@affsteak3530]

One hilarious aspect of this is how the game trained the community for collectivist action. "I'm doing my part!" Sony really picked the wrong place to pull this.

[@Prototype-357]

I don't think Sony understands just how bad this was, this is decades of goodwill they destroyed in 3 days. Now developers have to be extra careful around them, to really read all the legal bindings carefully so they don't give Sony the power to do this again, and if they have to give Sony the power to do this they should also do the moral thing and let players know upfront. I still can't believe Sony was gonna take away a game players already paid for and all Sony will get is a slap on the wrist, I think this still deserves a lawsuit. I haven't seen a corporation drop the facade of caring for their consumers so badly since the Unity situation.

[@SoukaDeezNutz]

They lost my trust some time after they moved to Corpofornia.

[@jacksonjacob7791]

Sony hasn't had much good will in the past few years as far as I can tell. This is just another bad look in a string of bad looks for them.

[@simon0162]

I have a feeling that Sony isn't going to remove the requirements for PSN linking I think they just won't ever let a developer temporarily suspend it again. Helldivers 2 is the one game they'll let through but never again.

[@Thordrel]

Hate corporations, glad they got a reality check.

[@hipstersephiroth3722]

Thank you being so kind all mighty all knowing God helping me and these people to better understand you

[@phantasydragon696]

DO NOT CHANGE YOUR REVIEWS, UNTIL THEY REMOVE THE PSN LINK REQUIREMENT FROM THE STORE PAGE. WE WON THE BATTLE BUT THE WAR STILL GOES ON.

[@TertiusVarus]

I'm doing my part!

[@cross612]

Fight till that end.

[@Jason-..-]

War? What war? Sony is the one that made the game in the first place. Stop being cringe.

[@Fadexpl]

Now that's just petty. They already announced they're not proceeding with this, it's over.

[@iambiggus]

The option to do so is still on the store page, it's no longer necessary. The war is over, Capslock not required.

[@Simte]

That's the magic of PC gaming and it's openness. A true win for the developers and the community.

[@Xl_Fenrir_lX]

Bro what? This has nothing to do with PC gaming lol. I swear you kids give rest of us PC owners a bad name, really living up to your stereotype, huh?

[@FrahdChikun]

​@@Xl_Fenrir_lXtell the audience you have no clue what's going on without saying it directly:

[@kennypowers1945]

@@Xl_Fenrir_lXyes tf it does you slow one 😂. The WHOLE issue was because pc players didn’t want to have to make a stupid psn profile to play. Now it’s being back tracked because of the outage caused by pc gamers. PlayStation gamers had no qualms with it

[@samuelcaron2256]

@@Xl_Fenrir_lXthis has everything to do with PC😂 the problem was only on that platform

[@Brandon-ml2zw]

The magic of PC gamers being the most vocal, whiney player base in the world maybe. Guess Sony couldn’t commit to cutting you out. Cross play was a cancer, you nerds need to stay in your own little bubble of mods and hacks and complaints when not every pixel is the way you like it.

[@DoctorPhilGud]

You should do an update video. They still havnt delivered what they promised. Our brothers are still blocked from the game. They think we're stupid. It doesnt take this long to change a steam store page and restore access to the blocked countries.

[@Zettymaster]

the thing to remember here is that they havent yet changed the store page to remove the requires 3rd party account badge. until thats gone, no substantial ACTION has been made on sony's part.

[@GeorgeMonet]

It doesn't matter what they do for new buyers going forwards. What matters is that the people who already bought it weren't being forced to take it up the butt by either trying to get a refund for a game they could no longer play or having to make a PSN account just to play a game they were already playing for 4 months.

[@ozzcoremidmx8287]

Helldivers was saved but upcoming PS titles won't. Pretty sure upcoming games will mandate the PS account linking.

[@VGVindaloo]

Either that, or they launch their own PC storefront and stop publishing their games on Steam.

[@Discount_blackbeard]

Wont buy anymore PS games, and before you say I won't. I haven't bought gearbox game since aliens colonel marine and yes I'm still pissed off about it

[@Droogie128]

@@VGVindaloo Then they'll fail like every other one. Guaranteed DOA.

[@Herowebcomics]

Then their games will fail.🫤

[@aahzmandiaz2767]

@@VGVindaloo That is acceptable. I just despise the linking of accounts. Making all your accounts vulnerable at once.

[@NoshikiYT]

Thankfully the community are fighting back against Sony

[@skaetur1]

Fighting to give money to the company? LOL.

[@JCWinters-bu8de]

@@skaetur1 No. To show them that some of us aren’t fools like you that they can bank on their stupidity and keep enforcing changes that only benefit their (Sony’s) pocket.

[@sophieedel6324]

The community fought back against Sony....by demanding access to a game full of microtransactions..so Sony can make more money.....wait what....

[@RedDuke03]

​@@sophieedel6324 Your comment shows that you never played the game.

[@sophieedel6324]

@@RedDuke03 Why would I want to play games that nickel and dime you with microtransactions? Have some self-respect.

[@BB-pn2qv]

I’m impressed by how you all players pulled it off. This is what collective pressure accomplishes. Great work. Now move this practice to the workplace, unionize!

[@gManGabe]

Did not expect it to end like that. Nice heckin' work, helldivers community!

[@kurtsell8376]

I genuinely wonder how much of this is due to Sony potentally opening themselves up to class action lawsuits.

[@royconestoga7326]

Being extremely mean to corporations should be the norm and not the exception. CEOs should be afraid to go outside every day.

[@Diablosff8]

The fight isn't over, Sony is still not selling the game in 177 countries that aren't allowed to have a PSN account.

[@dvornyak]

There is no yet official statement on steam that they cannot delete without consequences.

[@blueberrycracker6607]

Please mention the ghost of Tsushima controversy as well. This same rule was and still is going to be applied to ghost of Tsushima players on PC for the multiplayer mode. They have not reversed this specific decision. Please address that in a future video.

[@allenolivieri1773]

if no one buys it it will change

[@SeaNBlack]

GOT didnt even launch yet. It's not the same situación

[@maltheri9833]

​@@SeaNBlackBut it's still an issue period

[@aahzmandiaz2767]

I will not buy the game, because they have the same 3rd party conditions. Game is number one on my wish list. I will still not accept SONY's terms

[@MiniatureMorpheus]

They're not changing it. HD2 is the warning. Either sign in to PSN or enjoy the single player.

[@TheTraveler980]

Sony: You won... for now. 👺

[@yavvivvay]

I think they are way more afraid of false advertisment and fraud lawsuits than the bad reviews.

[@rectangleman4392]

The reason Sony hasnt changed the wording "some games may require you to link a playstation account" is probably because Ghost of Tsushima on PC will still require you to have a PSN account to play.

[@ThoughTMusic]

Damage feels done honestly. They essentially left the door open with their statement for something happening again in the future.

[@khuantru]

so true, that sentence or line is very 'worry some' which reads 'we are still learning whats best for pc players' ?? - i neither have a ps5 or pc, i haven't yet made the move to buy any so far because of whats happening to the gaming industry. That sentence alone regarding learning whats best for pc players should be a red flag for all pc gamers. Why is sony so concerned with pc players? they should focus on their own network and games. or how to win back gamers onto the platform, right now.. i think a lot of people are torn whether to move to pc or get a ps5. & it doesn't help with todays game censorship, most are just replaying old games now.

[@ThoughTMusic]

@@khuantru "learning what's best for PC players," translates to, "learning what level of intrusion PC players will tolerate," which doesn't give me much hope for the future.

[@CornerOfTheVoid]

What was the music/OST at the start of the video? Is it from Helldivers 2?

[@wasuh464]

Crazy what we can accomplish when we work together.

[@ATomatoIsAFruit]

Now what's left is to reinstate the game on the Steam store in all of those 170 or so countries that don't have access to PSN. If Sony *FULLY* walks back on the shitshow they created and pledge, PUBLICLY, to not try this campaign ever again, then maybe we can consider this a total victory. Anything less than that is not going to stick.

[@ProudOgreDad]

That is not a "win". That is placation. Sony does not care about player communities; they will regroup on it; they will fail you again.

[@ex0stasis72]

You might be right, but can I play devil's advocate? You know how the larger the corporation the more beurocracy and the longer it takes for them to make quick decisions. For all we know, this was just a miscommunication between the game requiring a PSN account at launch, then removing that requirement for server stability reasons. Sony may not have got the memo and didn't take into account all of the players who had already bought the game in countries where creating a PSN account is not allowed. It's still a massive mistake in the end. But it's not proven without a shadow of a doubt that there was malicious intent at this time.

[@MaaZeus]

As far as Helldivers 2 goes, I doubt it. It will just blow up on their face again. Can't say the same for future games though.

[@boxbox0000]

future games will most likely be affected by this event. but considering that psn is still widely unavailable to a vast majority of the world, they will definitely have to do something about it being region locked in order to make their trivial requirements more accessible

[@ironhell813]

Considering most of your “community” consists of copyright haters/subverters I wouldn’t be surprised.

[@GeorgeMonet]

What do you think a win is? Forcing them to back down is the win. This is the best outcome that players could have hoped for given the disparity in the position of the three parties. You aren't getting to get a corporation to permanently bend to your will. The most you can do is put off the corp making you take it up the butt by another day.

[@theo.pgamer4276]

This is the victory we will remember in our hearts forever

[@TheCanuckCanadain]

May 6th is now Helldivers' Independence Day

[@n3rfdr4gon99]

The old "we are still learning" walk back... No one with a brain should buy that BS. Trying to move the goalposts like always 🙄

[@sergie2822]

Prior to the announcement the HD2 Discord had some Sony fanboys calling everyone whiney crybabies for wanting to change "something so simple like a PSN account" but the moment Sony reverses course, the Fanboys come out praising Sony, stating "proof" how great a company Sony is... the Cult mentality is insane.🙄

[@csward5380]

These are 2 different groups of people...