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Comment by behindsight | Hacker News Reader

> People did not buy the game with that requirement

That requirement/disclaimer was present on the Steam store page the entire time the game was actually available for purchase.

The main issue was that it was not actively enforced due to server issues at the time - which the studio CEO acknowledged:

> I do have a part to play. I am not blameless in all of this - it was my decision to disable account linking at launch so that players could play the game. I did not ensure players were aware of the requirement and we didn't talk about it enough. We knew for about 6 months before launch that it would be mandatory for online PS titles.

https://twitter.com/Pilestedt/status/1787076609188483254

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> The main issue was that it was not actively enforced due to server issues at the time - which the studio CEO acknowledged:

I'd say the bigger issue is that Sony listed the game for sale in many countries in which the requirement to have a PSN account could not be met because Sony doesn't offer PSN there.

If PSN were available in all of those countries then having the requirement listed (which of course nobody reads, because we're programmed to ignore that sort of thing) would be a reasonable out and I'd be fine with telling people to suck it up and make a free PSN account, but the unrestricted selling in regions in which that requirement can't be met was a huge fuckup that's entirely on Sony (and likely why Steam rightfully started giving people no hassle refunds).

The biggest issue is that the game was being sold in countries where people couldn't make an account in that country (and where making an account in a different region would be against the ToS and there's no customer support for these people). You can't sell a multiplayer only game in 177 countries that people aren't allowed to make a required account in, then not expect people not to be extremely upset.

In fact, it's insanity that Sony can sell consoles in all these countries without allowing them to make accounts when they literally require it for significant functionality. How is that okay?

The box said "This is required"

But there was a nice little "skip" button there! Not "skip for now", not "remind me later" not "here's when you won't be able to skip anymore"

Just "Skip"

Idk about Steam but even if that's true, some people bought physical copies of the game not expecting that bullshit. Many were not in countries where PSN even operates. It's bad business for sure. If it needs PSN then that needs to be the first thing you see in the description, like "Now available exclusively on PSN..."

They have physical copies of the PC version?

Idk, that's what I heard. I looked around and the standard $60 edition comes with PS and PC versions. I can't say if one of those is digital only, but even if it is some people were not happy campers about the PSN requirement not being advertised. I assume the PS versions of some games can be played offline with no account, but idk. I don't have a Playstation or a PSN account.

All non-free PlayStation games require both a PlayStation Network account and an active PlayStation Plus subscription for online play. Free games don't require a subscription but still require an account as far as I know. And seeing as Helldivers 2 is online only, you need both an account and a subscription to play it at all on a PlayStation.

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