"I appreciate your sentiment and post," "Let me add some context. Arrowhead is independently owned by people working at the studio and not swayed by shareholders in the traditional sense. Of course we are in a great partnership with Sony where we agree on targets to hit etc. But there isn't a forcing function or requirement per se."

That is an actual quote from Arrowhead's CEO. It has not aged well. I guess this is what they mean by not being swayed by shareholders in the "traditional sense."

"The expectations from our friends at PlayStation are pretty simple: 'make great game for players. We trust you."

Helldivers 2 had a rocky start at the beginning. The constant disconnect issues and capacity performance problems made it difficult for people to play. Still the developers listened to the community and fixed it, the continued to listen to community and refused to allow any modern day political messaging and branding into the game; All of which would have been entirely immersion breaking. Arrowhead has gone out of their way to ensure that they provided a game that went against the typical grain and for that it drew a lot of ire from "gaming" journalists and your typical rabid left crowd who simply want to see things burn or take enjoyment from folks. Helldivers 2 was breaking the mold and performing at the optimal range that managed democracy should be. I enjoyed the game so much that I have over 100 hours on it now and almost all of the achievements, my group and I would play regularly until we'd exhausted ourselves and take a break to come back for the new Warbonds; Which were outstanding pieces of micro-transactions by the way! Other games could learn from Helldivers 2 in this regard.

Today, that is sadly not so much the case. About 24 hours ago, Sony and Arrowhead made the announcement that the game will require a PSN linked account. This will not be optional. By May 6th you must link a PSN account and it is for this reason that I am now writing a review. Playing a game these days is like trying to live off grid in The United States, they want you to link six social medias, four different online gaming accounts, and more just to play their game and collect data on you. Everything is much too integrated these days and Helldivers 2 was at one point a fresh space that did not force you to follow these data collection trends. Of course, Helldivers 2 is developed by Arrowhead and owned by Sony and Sony needs their shareholders to see they are relevant and popular, and so Sony, a big corporation, is now requiring you to use their PSN service in order to play the game. This is an outrage, Sony has had as more data breaches than a US Politician has had leaking classified information violating OPSEC. These hackers that have stolen customer data from Sony have even gone as far as to sell that information to buyers. Nothing about you is private or sacred to Sony and these big corporations do not care about you.


I will change this review to positive pending any change in this insane decision. I believe Sony, Steam, and Arrowhead should work out an arrangement to turn off crossplay so you don't need a PSN account if Sony wants the player data this badly. Sony should not be entitled to any Steam player's data.

A shame this happened so close to the new Warbond too. My boys and I have been looking forward to the cold weather combat suits for the last few months. I really want to get out there in the snow with those.

For the viewing record. Here is a list of countries that PSN is not accessible: List of countries where people cant make PSN accounts:

People in these countries were allowed to purchase the game in what is a bait and switch. Sony also changed details to their terms of service in an FAQ discreetly following all of this controversy.
https://gamerant.com/psn-faq-change-helldivers-2-controversy/

For your reading.