Helldivers 2 was looking like a pretty good squad Co-op game, I was
somewhat interested, but so many things to play, not enough time. It
won't affect me if I were to play it, but there's regions where it was
sold that the PSN isn't available.

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From "The Verge":

Attention, Democracy Defenders: Helldivers 2 will soon require players
on Steam to link their account to a PlayStation Network account.
According to the announcement, all new players on Steam will be required
to link to a PSN account starting May 6th, while current players will
have a little bit longer, with mandatory enforcement delayed until June 4th.

According to Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Game Studios, linking to a
PSN account was always going to be a requirement for Steam players, and
the policy is there to ensure players are protected from griefing and
other in-game abuses. But the game’s community isn’t buying it, vociferously protesting the decision on social media and on Steam itself.

Shortly after the announcement, the game saw a flood of negative
reviews, receiving over 14,000 negative reviews today alone on Steam.

Though PSN accounts are free and quick to make, players do have reason
to be upset. PSN isn’t available everywhere, and this move could
potentially lock players in certain countries out of their game
permanently. Players have also expressed concern about the security of
their data. Sony recently suffered a data breach, though the information
stolen was connected to employees and not customers.

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From Sony:

HELLDIVERS™ 2 Account Linking Update
Attention Helldivers,

Due to technical issues at the launch of HELLDIVERS™ 2, we allowed the linking requirements for Steam accounts to a PlayStation Network account
to be temporarily optional. That grace period will now expire. See
details below in this post.

Account linking plays a critical role in protecting our players and
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.

As such, as of May 6th, all new HELLDIVERS 2 players on Steam will be
required to connect their Steam account to a PlayStation Network
account. Current players on Steam will start to see the mandatory login
from May 30th and will be required to have linked a Steam and
PlayStation Network account by June 4th. PlayStation Network accounts
are free and easy to set up using this link https://www.playstation.com/support/account/create-account-for-psn/

We understand that while this may be an inconvenience to some of you,
this step will help us to continue to build a community that you are all
proud to be a part of.

Many thanks for your continued support of HELLDIVERS 2!

Sony Interactive Entertainment


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-Justisaur

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