Post updated 5/5/24. See update below.

Sony is making an egregious error of judgment when it comes to the biggest PlayStation 5 hit of the year.

Helldivers 2 has been a smash success on both PS5 and Steam, not only pulling down huge player and sales numbers, but also a ton of goodwill from players. The game is genuinely fun with an innovative live-service element and a great sense of humor. It’s no wonder that people keep coming back to kill more bugs.

Sony is poised to squander a ton of the goodwill the company has accrued, not just from Helldivers 2, but from all its efforts to port PlayStation exclusives like Horizon Zero Dawn and The Last Of Us, to PC.

The company announced recently that PC players would need to link their PlayStation Network accounts to their Steam accounts in order to continue playing the game. This, they claimed, was after an initial grace period where account linking was not required, but that grace period is coming to an end.

It feels like a bait-and-switch, luring players in on false pretenses. Yes, there’s a notice saying you need to link your accounts, but this was easy to overlook and since it wasn’t a requirement, many players either never noticed or just assumed it was an error or something Sony decided against.

There are several problems here:

As for Sony’s reasons, security is a lousy excuse. If they were truly concerned about security, they could require some form of 2-factor authentication (or 2FA). This would not require a PlayStation account, but would be something gamers could do in any region without opening a brand new account of any kind. It would achieve security goals without being too much of a hindrance to players.

Fundamentally, though, even 2FA should be optional or should come with some cherry on top, incentivizing players to use it rather than preventing them from playing if they don’t (though I highly recommend it because your account could be hacked much more easily without 2FA).

Obviously most Helldivers 2 players will grumble about it but then sign up for PSN. But some won’t be able to, and the community as a whole will have lost a ton of faith in Sony. A lot of the goodwill that’s been gained over Helldivers 2 will be gone after this, and that’s no small thing.

Even the developer of the game, Arrowhead Games, is expressing dismay over the change, with one community manager suggesting that players change their Steam reviews to negative in protest. Clearly Sony has badly misjudged the situation and should walk back this utterly preposterous policy before they ruin a good thing. As the saying goes: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Update

In a surprise twist to this story, Sony has reversed course on the company’s decision to require PlayStation Network accounts for Steam players.

Since May 2nd, over 260,000 negative reviews and counting have dropped on Steam, returning All Reviews to “Mixed” and changing Recent Reviews to a shameful “Overwhelmingly Negative”. Tens of thousands of negative reviews a day have poured in from angry PC players who either don’t want to create a PlayStation Network account or who simply can’t, because they’re in one of 177 different regions where that’s simply not possible. Steam has now stopped selling the game in these regions.

Steam has also taken steps to refund anyone who wants a refund over this issue, even if you’ve played more than 2 hours and owned the game more than 2 weeks, breaking their normal return policy. At least Valve is doing right by gamers. Meanwhile, developer Arrowhead Games has urged players to make their dissatisfaction known and leave negative reviews on Steam.

All of this backlash has led to Sony’s decision to walk back the controversial change. On Sunday evening, the company tweeted:

“Helldivers fans,” the tweet reads, “we’ve heard your feedback on the Helldivers 2 account linking update. The May 6 update, which would have required Steam and PlayStation Network account linking for new players and for current players beginning May 30, will not be moving forward.

“We’re still learning what is best for PC players and your feedback has been invaluable. Thanks again for your continued support of Helldivers 2 and we’ll keep you updated on future plans.”

This is a wise move on Sony’s part. A rational response to this degree of backlash. While many Sony fanboys tried to defend the company’s decision, claiming it was all about security, clearly Sony has taken the more sensible approach. If Sony wants a share of the PC market, it will need to handle future decisions like this with more care. This is a step in the right direction. Kudos to Sony for changing course. Hopefully gamers will change their reviews to positive as a gesture of good faith, and Sony will find a better solution, or optional incentives for PC players to link their PSN accounts.