Breakdown
- Sony has made it mandatory for all Steam players to link their account with a PSN account if they want to play Helldivers 2.
- People cannot find any loopholes or walkarounds for this problem, as Sony’s Terms of Services can get them banned.
- Using a VPN to access Helldivers 2 can also get your account banned.
Sony recently announced that to play Helldivers 2, all Steam players must link their account with a PlayStation Network (PSN) account. They intend to stick to this policy as players trying workarounds for unavailable regions have been getting banned.
Players became so furious they filled the game's Steam page with negative reviews. Sony didn’t think much about this blunt decision, as they did not consider the players who live in regions with no PSN services.
To cover this mistake, they posted in their FAQ that players can make another account in regions with PSN services, but players who did this also got banned.
According to Section 3 of the PSN Terms of Services, players are prohibited from providing false information while registering, which means that users are not allowed to create their accounts in a region where they do not reside. If someone violates this term by giving false information, Sony has all the rights to suspend, terminate, or restrict that account.
Some players were forced to turn toward VPN as their last resort, but Sony banned them too.
A Twitter account, Helldivers 2 Media, reports that PSN is only available in 69(not nice) countries, so if you are not in one of those countries, you are technically screwed. A Chinese player who tried to connect to PSN via a VPN got banned.
“Someone has already gotten banned for trying to use a VPN to make an account to try to access HD2. Sure, China, but it's still PlayStation who issued the ban.” Helldivers 2 Media says on Reddit.
From what we can see, Sony has two options: they can either take back the PSN requirement, or they would need to change their terms of service to cater for those who live in countries with no PSN services. Of course, there is always the third evil option to not accommodate those players at all, but this would lose them most of the fan base.
The developers have been trying to settle the dust, but it is becoming difficult for fans to trust them again. With people boycotting Helldivers 2, no one knows what the future holds for this game.
Feel free to take a look at our other articles on Helldivers 2, Helldivers 2 faction list, The best Helldivers 2 Stratagems, and Helldivers 2 weapon tier list.