Sony has announced that they will no longer be proceeding with their plans to require a PSN (PlayStation Network) account to continue playing Helldivers 2 on PC.

For the past week, fans have been responding to news that Helldivers 2 would be requiring PC players to link a PSN account to their Steam account in order to continue playing the game. This had originally been intended at the game’s launch, but due to its unprecedented popularity, it put too much strain on the servers. Thus, the requirement was paused which led to many players growing accustomed to not needing a PSN account.

Helldivers fans — 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…

— PlayStation (@PlayStation) May 6, 2024

Fans have been critical of Sony’s requirement due to the company’s past data breaches, as well as the company’s overzealous approach to community moderation and content censorship. As a result of the earlier announcement, Helldivers 2 quickly dropped to “Overwhelmingly Negative” recent reviews, and “Mixed” overall reviews on Steam.

Most of the blame for this debacle lies with Sony, and the CEO of Arrowhead had been responsive and sympathetic to fans throughout most of the backlash.

Is this the moment to tweet "What? You guys don't have phones?" 😵‍💫

On serious note: We are talking solutions with PlayStation, especially for non-PSN countries. Your voice has been heard, and I am doing everything I can to speak for the community – but I don't have the final…

— Pilestedt (@Pilestedt) May 5, 2024