Video Games

Helldivers 2 is making PlayStation account linking mandatory for all PC players

New PC players are being forced to create a PlayStation account while existing ones have one month to do so.

Rahul Majumdar

Arrowhead/Sony Interactive Entertainment

Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Game Studios just dropped on its players on PC. Starting May 6, all new Helldivers 2 players on PC will be required to link their Steam accounts to a PlayStation account. All existing players can continue to play with just a Steam account until May 30, after which they’ll be forced to link to a PS account until June 4, 2024.

The game had launched with a mandatory PlayStation account log-in, but it was removed after it started gathering more momentum on Steam. Arrowhead explained in a Steam community post that this was only allowed during a “grace period” due to “technical issues” as the developer put more resources to work for server upkeep.

As for why the game will force players to link their PS accounts, Arrowhead states that it’s for “upholding the values of safety and security provided on PlayStation and PlayStation Studios games.” 

“This is our main way to protect players from griefing and abuse by enabling the banning of players that engage in that type of behaviour. It also allows those players that have been banned the right to appeal,” reads Arrowhead’s post.

PlayStation has been bridging the gap between its console and PC player base. The next PlayStation-published PC port, Ghost of Tsushima, will offer an optional PlayStation overlay for earning or carrying over PS trophies. Sony may be working behind the scenes to make a PlayStation account log-in mandatory on its back catalog of PC ports, which have always offered bonus rewards for those who chose to do so.

Helldivers 2 is PlayStation’s first live service game to be released on PC and console simultaneously. The game has seen tremendous success on Steam, reaching a peak of over 400,000 concurrent players just a few weeks after launch. The game has surpassed Arrowhead’s expectations, with many PlayStation gamers also petitioning for an Xbox release. Even now, three months after release, the game sits comfortably on Steam’s top 10 best-seller charts.

It remains to be seen how far the game's rating on Steam will tank following the controversial move. Helldivers 2's initial reviews were mostly positive, with the game scoring a respectable 82/100 on Metacritic. As of the time of writing, the game's Steam reviews have started to drop in the red zone, with over 4,300 negative reviews registered on the storefront.

Helldivers 2 is available on PC and PS5.

Published |Modified
Rahul Majumdar
RAHUL MAJUMDAR

Rahul is a writer and filmmaker from India, currently navigating the entertainment industry in Mumbai. With a keen interest in film, video games, and the tech that drives them, Rahul has written for multiple outlets like TechQuila, IGN India and IndiaTimes. He has also worked on some shows and films you may or may not have heard of, although he vastly prefers gaming binge-sessions. His favourite games include The Witcher 3 (how original), and Assassin's Creed games of yore, and he's trying his best to get into more Nintendo games. When not rambling about pop culture in blogs, you can usually find him doing the same in bite-sized chunks over at Twitter (or whichever platform is popular at the moment)!

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