Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/05/06/sony-backs-off-playstation-network-login-requirement-for-pc-hit-helldivers-2.html
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Trust fully restored! /s
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I saw someone describing game industry as one that never learns anything. Considering how utterly predictable this reaction was, it seems appropriate.
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Sony obviously can’t be trusted, and while the developer did have a part to play in this misstep overall i am happy this has been seemingly resolved. The devs have been on the end of a ton of online harassment, i understand people were pissed but most of it was undeserved so hopefully things will clear up and they can focus on making the game bigger and better.
Edit to add: I’ve still been playing the game up to yesterday, but i had been struggling with staying motivated to keep playing due to the controversy. I had been thinking of quitting the game if Sony didn’t budge, so i’m glad they changed course. The game is great and i hate seeing a good portion of the international community excluded for no good reason.
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“still learning what is best for PC players” is perhaps the most classic frog-boiling language I can imagine; so I’m not optimistic outside the immediate term; but it’s always satisfying to see an embarrassing climbdown
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Conversation I’m sure happened within Sony at some point over the last few days:
Sony Exec: Why didn’t we anticipate this reaction from the players?
Sony Mid-level Manager: Um…we did anticipate this reaction from the players?
Sony Exec: We did? Why didn’t anyone tell me?
Sony Mid-level Manager: I…I did tell you. I replied to your e-mail where you announced the plan.
Sony Exec: Eh, I never read my e-mail.
Sony Mid-level Manager: Actually, you replied back to my e-mail and you told me I was exaggerating and overreacting.
Sony Exec: Well who could have known, right? Players are a mystery! Moving on to the next item of business…
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They probably figured they could bully the developer into it without much thought, but the game blowing up and getting a huge community of enthusiastic players likely bit Sony in the ass.
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I’m honestly shocked that Sony walked this back. I expected them to just double down, being Sony and all.
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They only half-walked back. They said they will make the exception for Helldivers 2, but all the next games will have this requirement at least for Multiplayer. Basically the decision to launch the game with PSN disabled was taken by the CEO of arrowhead and he’s not in a good position now 
Ghost of Tsushima is confirmed that will require PSN for MP, without PSN only single player mode will be available.
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Pretty much my thoughts, things are guaranteed to become a shit show the second the exception was OK’d for this game because without the required PSN linking that meant Steam could sell the game to people in regions that normally wouldn’t be able to play the game. I’d fault Sony over this more than the devs for the game, though they’re not entirely Innocent. I commend them for ensuring that the game could be put in the hands of more people than they could’ve otherwise, but this will certainly make it so that this scenario won’t happen again unless Sony someday decides to ease up.
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Huh, so a gamer hissy-fit that wasn’t reactionary culture war nonsense actually caused a publisher to do the right thing… that’s a first. (I mean, presuming Sony don’t still try to pull some bullshit here, which…)
My real concern in all this was with the developers (who have produced a number of good games) not getting screwed over, as they were caught in the middle and couldn’t really do anything about it. The game has sold well enough to be at the point where it could determine whether the devs could have enough financial freedom on their next game to not be beholden to a publisher (and their unreasonable demands).
This i kind of not true, developers knew about this issue way ahead of time and that it would likely cause a big problem. But i presume in order for them to hit some kind of sales number and considering their launch was going to be shaky due to bugs (pun not intended) they had asked Sony if they could delay the PSN linking by a few months in order to get the game to as many people as possible. They succeeded and game blew up and i’m sure on the backend they had been negotiating with Sony to change their mind of going back to the PSN account thing, it’s telling that this was the case because as soon as the shit hit the fan their immediate answer was to please review the game negatively, ask for refunds if possible, and make their discontent known directly to Sony. Looking at this it seems like a tactic to directly prove to Sony and force their hand at doing right by the gamers on PC.
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Right, that’s what I was getting at - the devs may have known about the issue, but they still couldn’t do anything about it. It was only by way of the players that any leverage could be applied to make Sony change their minds. In the publisher/developer/consumer dynamic, developers are the ones who really don’t have any kind of power, stuck between the whims of publishers and players.
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