Steam is giving refunds for Helldivers 2 following PlayStation sign-in fiasco

After days of frustration and outcry from the community, some are saying that Steam has given full refunds to those who have bought Helldivers 2, even if they have played more than two hours.

[thorstein]

A player who played, had fun, and moved on can get their money back? 100 hrs in game?

That's just wrong.

It was there at launch and removed temporarily. It's on the TOS.

[Tacoboto]

People who have been allowed to play 100hrs+ are being told now they'll no longer be able to play any hours.

They deserve a refund and publishers that pull this crap deserve any and all backlash.

[badz149]

Sony told them they can't play anymore? Really? Aren't you getting mixed up between Sony and Ubi and between Helldivers 2 and The Crew?

[--Onilink--]

@badz

He is not, there are 100s of countries where people cannot make a PSN account and a Steam account is possible.

There is a reason why the game was also delisted from almost 200 countries.

Its a stupid move from Sony. They could simply make the PSN link optional (and actually offer something useful with it, like other devs do that use cross saves with it)

[Terry_B]

Don't spread bs.

[Old_Scout]

@--Onilink--

There are 195 countries in the world. Almost 200 is all of them.

[BeHunted]

You can purchase Helldivers 2 from all over the globe, but you can only play it if you're in one of Sony's 69 approved countries.

Edit: Apparently, Sony has delisted the game in 177 countries.

[redknight80]

You read fully their terms of service?! Hahaha...bullshit! If PSN accounts were a launch feature then the game should NOT have been sold in regions where PSN isn't accessible...END OF! What branch of Sony do you work with because you clearly aren't a gamer, haha.

[Walalon]

Completely agree @redknight80 , if they know PSN it's gonna be obligatory why sell the game where PSN don't reach...

[Rynxie]

Folks, buy starship troopers: extermination fir pc. The real bug slaying game! It's also 16 player co-op

[Jingsing]

This is just Steam being opportunistic disguised as consumer friendly, maybe Sony will wake up now.

[thorstein]

Well, it looks like they apparently did.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

This is fair compensation

[Fishy Fingers]

Turning into a s***show.

[Distantgoth]

I bet half the people that are moaning about this have Xbox accounts and have to sign into Microsoft account to play certain games, same with other games such as EA, Ubisoft.. so what difference does this make?

[Sirch]

It’s about Sony not caring about this studio until it was successful, now they are exerting their control to improve their PC user base to make PSN eventually required for these games to play online, and thus their monthly fee.

This is about the future of gaming not about just signing up for a free account. Free isn’t free….

[Seraphim]

From what I read this was always a thing. However due to popularity/server issues at launch this requirement was temporarily suspended.

That being said, if this was always the case they should've conveyed it to consumers better. Regardless of what is true or fiction it's a terrible situation.

At the same time countless companies make you sign into a account of thier own to access games and other software. Generally speaking that is a practice I feel needs to stop. Be that MS, Ubi, EA, PS, or whomever else. The last thing people need are more accounts. 2 cents

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

The difference is PSN accounts are only available in 69 countries. If you're not residing in one of these, you're SOL and lose access to the game you purchased. People whining about an account requirement for an online game are hypocrites and are drowning the real issue.

[MrNinosan]

And Xbox account in 48 countries

[MrNinosan]

@Christpphoerrr
Iy's actually 48 officially supported countries for Xbox accounts.
Playstation had the requirement in play by day 1, Arrowhead removed it temporarily due to the server issues.

Sony doesn't ban accounts for using another for another country.
I had PS3 from US a year before it was available in Sweden, and have been sticking with my US account ever since.
I also have UK, HongKong, Japanese and Australian accounts.

PSN doesn't require facial scan or goverment ID, you smoking something dude?

I don't think it's less or more bad for the same reason I need MS account to play Minecraft nowadays, even thou I purchased the game multiple times, and now I'm not allowed to use all purchases anymore.

Or Sea of Thieves on PS5.
FIFA... the list goes on.

I have plenty of games on PC, Series X, PS5 and Switch thay requires me to use a specific login.

And you know what? I don't care, I don't cry, it doesn't make games worse. It helps the developers growing and getting more information from what their player base want.

This right now, is cry babies and it's obviously doesn't moving the needle as Xbox Fans and PC Master Race kids want, because Helldivers 2 still have the same concurrent players on Steam as a week ago.

[JEECE]

No doubt. People tend to have very selective outrage about these types of things. It's like the people who swear they'll never buy a certain game until the publisher releases a physical version, yet they happily play various other games that are only available digitally, or the people who say they won't buy a certain multiplayer centric game because it doesn't include a traditional campaign, yet they play other multiplayer only games, or the people who blast major publishers for microtransactions and greedy practices but support games from smaller devs with far worse practices.

That being said, this is still a dumb move by Sony. Games on PC should always require the fewest number of launchers/logins possible. If I'm signed into Steam, I shouldn't have to sign into anything else.

[Jingsing]

When you say as few launchers as possible you do realize you are advocating for less stores and less stores means less competition. Why it is that everyone one PC suddenly wants socialism when it comes to entertainment?

[Jingsing]

To be fair N4G is mostly PC commentators who rank stuff in this order PC>Sony>Nintendo>Xbox . That is often reflected in comment voting.

[badz149]

The toxicity of pc gamers know no bounds. They wanted Sony to support PC by releasing day 1 and Sony delivered but then Sony wanted a return in terms of them signing up to PSN, they started review bombing and asking for refund. If asked why...they fear security risks by citing the PSN hack that happened 10 years ago! Bunch of entitle trolls these people are.

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

That's the loud minority; what really deserves backlash is the fact that PSN only supports 69 countries and you lose access to the game you bought because you happen not to reside in one of these. Not to mention that instead of giving a workaround Sony chose to ban the game from being sold in unsupported countries. It's a shitty situation.

[Eonjay]

No they won't. We call clam to be stupid but in reality, you van make an account in any country you want. They will be fine. I do think Sony would have been better off only selling it in countries with PSN from the start. This is new for them but they will learn.

[fsfsxii]

Nothing worse than manchildren being denied their favorite toy lmao

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

If a company representative knocked on your door and told you, 'We've decided that you can't use this tool you bought with your money and have been using for the last two months. We know we offered it for sale and allowed you to use it to your heart's content, but now we've realised that you live in an area we don't like so we're taking it back.' I'm sure you'd be very reasonable.

[Firebird360]

Kinda ironic a guy that spends his free time trolling on forums dedicated to "toys" calls someone else a manchild.

The problem is someone losing access to a product they bought because they live in a specific country thats unsupported by Sony.

[goldwyncq]

If you paid for a toy and was suddenly told that you won't be able to play with it anymore, being able to refund it is more than sensible.

[Sirch]

As a 45yo gamer with accounts everywhere, here is why I disagree with this “request”.

This isn’t for us. This is for Sony to manipulate numbers to boost PSN to further ingrain it into us that it’s fine to pay for monthly services simply to access the games we used to access for free.

These are stores, not just empty accounts. This ensures you are a legit person and not a fake account. This enables Sony to further erode the platform for which we use.

Next we will need a monthly fee to play PC games online. Xbox or PSN paid accounts will be required for PC online play. This isn’t $5 a month any more, it’s $15+ and just rising every year.

Stop being sheep. Please. I love gaming but capitalism is ruining it and you’re all just following along letting it happen. The only thing we can do is fight back with our wallets.

Edit:
They first change our habits to desensitize to linking out accounts to PSN.

Then it become normal and everyone does it.

Then they begin to charge for it, saying it’s required to continue using the platform. But now they have many users and the studio can’t afford to turn away the store and the platform.

We’re paying more, studio is paying more, none of us gamers benefit, only Sony.

Microsoft is doing it too.

Free accounts only means the cost is being paid by your personal data. You are the price today, and gaming as we know it is the price of tomorrow.

[Skuletor]

I was wondering if they'd try get PC users to subscribe to PS Plus to play their PS games online but then considered they wouldn't be given the monthly PS+ games and it would make it a hard sell but who knows?

[Sirch]

They’re releasing Sony titles on PC now.

In a couple years they’ll be offering Pc titles in their PS+

Again, it’s about habit changing now so they can claim you need it later, and by then it’s too late - they have the platform the user base and the storefront, devs can’t not be part of.

[JackBNimble]

Oh here we go ... capitalism is ruining it?
No dude , capitalism or the western system we live in , is the reason you're even able to game.
You just turned your argument from reasonable to stupid in four words.

[Sirch]

And capitalism says to extract as much from their customers as they are willing to pay until they push back by not paying. The capitalist response is to refund and/or not buy as a customer who disagrees with the companies sales practice.

Say no to these practices that erode our ability to play PC games without PSN or Xbox sucking funds for no real value added.

PSN used to be free. My dial-up SNES (yeah it was a thing) was free too. Playing PC games online has generally been free with game purchase.

Online PC gaming will not be free if these practices of requiring a platform account to play on PC continues.

[repsahj]

Sony should learn and never release day 1 on PC.

[Skuletor]

How would that make a difference?

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

Sony should learn three things:
1. You can't hide shitty practices on Steam because users have a voice;
2. If you want to force something on players either do it at launch or give a sensible reason;
3. Support as many countries as the platform you're selling your games on before enforcing your services.

[Eonjay]

You last point is the real and only moral to the story.

[JEECE]

@Eonjay

Yet that is probably the least important part of all of this. Everyone is talking about the 170+ countries where the game was on sale on Steam but that don't have access to PSN, because 170 sounds like a big number. But realistically the vast majority of games Sony ever sells are sold in the US, Europe (and primarily a few Western European countries, I know some smaller Euro countries don't have PSN), and Japan (and Japan is pretty irrelevant for Helldivers). Those 170+ countries probably only accounted for a tiny percentage of HD2's steam sales. The real reason they are changing is the rage and review bombing from a bunch of people in the US and Western Europe who just don't want to be bothered with a second login (which, fair enough). People are just using the 170+ countries as a club to wield because they don't want to do a PSN login.

[kindi_boy]

Those who thinks this isn't a big deal (just make a free account) really have no idea how to live a life of a PC gamer, we have never been under the thumb of a console maker, we can clearly tell good from bad. and this is BAD changing a TOS retroactively and enforcing their ways without a good reason will never be accepted on the PC platform. We don't take shit and become salves of a corporate whim and stay quite. The company who really understands this and empower it is Valve they know very well the mindset of a PC gamer and act accordingly. Sony has nothing to do with the refunds or stopping selling HD2 in countries that don't have access to PSN, it's all Valve.

[Eonjay]

No you aren't. You just won't let the platform wars go. A lot of companies have their own accounts. You don't want it because it's called PlayStation. That's ut.

[rippermcrip]

So you've never created an account for other companies or publishers? Tell us more lies.

Just Steam right (for some reason that is okay with you).

Get your facts straight too. They didn't change the TOS.

[kindi_boy]

They did change the TOS and get off your high horse.

[rippermcrip]

What terms did they change? The PSN requirement was there from Day 1. It was listed on the Steam page from Day 1. The requirement was only temporarily disabled because there were some issues. Users were told at the time that it was a temporary change and that it would be required later on.

They didn't change anything.

[kindi_boy]

a line on steam page is not their TOS.
They changed their TOS specifically the line where to talks about linking PSN to Steam, from optional to maybe required with some games. THAT'S A CHANGE, if you don't know it doesn't mean it didn't happen.

[rippermcrip]

You're quoting a change from a generic FAQ on their support page (which I've linked below). That is not the TOS for Helldivers 2.

https://www.playstation.com...

[Tzuno]

Sony saw the potential and now they want it to resemble as an exclusive by all means.
I bet they regret not making is a ps5 exclusive only.

[Eonjay]

No I don't think so. It's a really good game and most people only care about that.

[ravens52]

It's been fine so far, leave it be. Put it in your next live service game at the beginning. But your biting the HD2 community hand that's feeding you. Your 1st live service game... Don't be silly.

[vTuro24]

What a shitshow this has become. They had gold on their hands and simply couldn't help but ruin it. Because of course they had to. The dumbass shills defending them are even worse. Telling people to stop whining and ignoring the real issue. A lot of overlap here with the Stellar Blade censorship.

[Aussiesummer]

The next big thing has happened it's day, boohoo. Just another in the long line of shitty dev practices.

[repsahj]

Sony heard your cries. Account linking will never moving forward. Congratulations.

[maykhausonninh]

This is also not surprising. A fair compensation is also relatively fair. :))))

[gunnerforlife]

This is a sh1tty move by Sony, they deserve all the backlash.

[DarXyde]

Sony snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

I swear, these muppets.

[anast]

Get your money back and move on.