Sony Drops Mandatory PSN Account for Helldivers 2 on PC After Backlash
The announcement that PC players of Helldivers 2 would need a mandatory PSN account to continue playing the game was followed by a wave of protest. Over 200,000 negative user reviews and much criticism from the community forced the publisher to change its mind.
Helldivers 2, released in February 2024, is a huge success story for developer Arrowhead from Sweden and publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment. The co-op shooter turned out to be Sony's best PC release by far, with a CCU record of over 450,000 - and the number of concurrent users has remained in the six-figure range ever since. The game was also very well received by the gaming community, despite massive server problems at launch. This changed abruptly when Sony Interactive Entertainment announced on Friday that new and old players of Helldivers 2 would need a PlayStation Network account. Until then, the account link had been optional, presumably due to server overload at launch. The wording in the FAQ has also been changed accordingly.