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Last weekend saw the first major controversy surrounding Helldivers 2 when Sony announced that all PC users would be required to link a PSN account to Steam to keep playing the game. Despite eventually reversing this decision following community backlash, 180 countries and regions are no longer able to purchase the game due to PSN services not being available there.
Even though a week has passed since this announcement and now no players will be required to link a PSN account, there is no end in sight for when this controversy will end, which has only further been fueled after three more countries were added to the restricted list. But, the Arrowhead Game Studios CEO has publicly commented on the latest restrictions and shed some light on the situation.
In a post on the official Helldivers 2 Discord server, Arrowhead Game Studios CEO Johan Pilestedt gave an update on the restriction of Helldivers 2 in 180 countries and regions, including who made the call to restrict the game in the three latest countries, saying,
“So, to give an update on the three further country restrictions. It was an administrative error correction – they should have been part of the original restriction and it was noticed when the restriction was put in place for [Ghost of] Tsushima. This was noticed and executed independently by Valve. While it doesn’t look positive. It is not an indication of further restrictions. The conversation on region restrictions is still ongoing and is independent of this. I have no further information. We (Arrowhead) still want the game to be available everywhere.”
This statement confirms that it was Valve that restricted Helldivers 2 in Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia, however, those countries were supposed to be part of the original 177 countries that saw the game restricted last week. Despite the restrictions being put in place a week ago, there seems to be no timeframe on when they will be lifted, meaning that much of the world will be cut off from Helldivers 2 for the time being. This will likely be the case for some time as Valve has been refunding Ghost of Tsushima pre-orders after Sony announced that PSN would be required for multiplayer, before restricting the same 180 countries.
It looks like there is no end in sight when it comes to the PSN controversy, which has eroded a lot of goodwill that Helldivers 2 had built with the community. Hopefully, the correct resolution will take place and the game will be available to be purchased worldwide again soon. For those that can still access Helldivers 2, players are currently tasked with eradicating 2 billion Automatons from the galaxy and so far are falling short of the target. With the new Polar Patriots Warbond launching earlier in the week, we highly recommend checking out our Helldivers 2 best weapons guide and best armor guide so you can create the ideal loadout to bring democracy, as well as see whether any of the new weapons and armor are worth unlocking.
