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Re:Helldivers 2 PSN account linking update will not be movin... by sundvor on Monday May 06, 2024 @02:18AM (#40271689)
So good news; the journey of Helldivers 2 has been a beacon of positivity in a very bleak landscape of online gaming, and the entire community got Sony to back down in record time.

Their success is proof that if you care for your game and your players first of all, and not micro transactions or "spreading the message", you can truly create something special.

To see the community come together for the Major Orders (HD2 rewards everyone if e.g. key planets are taken, creating a sense of urgency rarely seen) has been great.

To me, this created the force that came to play this weekend as everyone united in support of those who had no possible way of creating a PSN account - by putting pressure on Sony in any way possible.

The Devs recommended updating the reviews and submitting refund requests as a valid way of voicing discontent - so we did. Also, Pilestedt/ Arrowhead took full and complete ownership over missteps around the requirements. This transparency was refreshing to see!

It'll be interesting to see how long it takes for the reviews to be updated in the days ahead. The victory will only make the community stronger!

Re:Helldivers 2 PSN account linking update will not be movin... by thefz on Monday May 06, 2024 @02:52AM (#40271894)
I think the review bombing is stupid for many reasons.

Is the same game you were posting memes about yesterday, suddenly bad? No longer having fun?

Who do you think you are going to hurt between the less-than-30-person studio or the multinational behemoth?

Are you going to refund the game today then buy it again tomorrow when the change is reverted? You might be hurting the developer even more.

IMO Steam reviews should completely disappear as it's no longer an useful gaugfe of a game quality. Hell, I see people leave negative reviews to co-op games such as "I hAvE No fRiEnDs tO PlAy iT WiTh lOl." Are you stupid?

Besides, buy the game, test it and if you don't like refund it.

Re:Helldivers 2 PSN account linking update will not be movin... by anon22981 on Monday May 06, 2024 @02:55AM (#40271909)
Boohoo. I’m happy any time people show some spine and principles, instead of sucking up to companies and brands. We should do it more, not less. Review bombing is a great start.
Re:Helldivers 2 PSN account linking update will not be movin... by thefz on Monday May 06, 2024 @02:58AM (#40271925)
You don't need to suck up to companies, but think really. Who do you think is going to be hurt?
Re:Helldivers 2 PSN account linking update will not be movin... by int_19h on Monday May 06, 2024 @04:13AM (#40272365)
As a Steam customer, I appreciate it when others review bomb games that do that kind of thing. It is a huge red flag that I want to know about when buying them.
Re:Helldivers 2 PSN account linking update will not be movin... by johnnyanmac on Monday May 06, 2024 @04:47AM (#40272564)
As someone who wants to play games, it's frustrating navigating through every drama just to know if a game is actually for me. These are the same people who want to "keep politics out of games"?
Re:Helldivers 2 PSN account linking update will not be movin... by pauby on Monday May 06, 2024 @06:34AM (#40273085)
Judging by the number of bad reviews, there are many more who don't.
Re:Helldivers 2 PSN account linking update will not be movin... by thefz on Monday May 06, 2024 @06:18AM (#40273006)
Exactly my point.
Re:Helldivers 2 PSN account linking update will not be movin... by Timshel on Monday May 06, 2024 @03:13AM (#40272017)
? Everyone who makes money from sales including Sony.

Sales tends to drop when games reviews becomes "mostly negatives".

But I believe with only this it would have taken more time, I suspect steam starting to approve refund even post 2h was what forced Sony to react.

But at the same time with no complains I doubt Steam would have cared.

Re:Helldivers 2 PSN account linking update will not be movin... by thefz on Monday May 06, 2024 @06:20AM (#40273018)
So the developer already suffering from publisher's bad decision is a tolerable collateral casualty in your "war" for justice. Noted.

Not that the kind of people leaving Steam reviews struck me for rational, but this is on another level.

Re:Helldivers 2 PSN account linking update will not be movin... by bluefirebrand on Monday May 06, 2024 @09:21AM (#40274319)
The developer was actively encouraging their players to ask for refunds and leave negative reviews

Their community managers started off on the wrong foot with how they reacted, but issued strong apologies and quickly changed track. The CEO himself was tweeting about his own culpability in the mess and encouraging unhappy people to make their voices heard in reviews

So... Yes

Re:Helldivers 2 PSN account linking update will not be movin... by supercheetah on Monday May 06, 2024 @01:53PM (#40277403)
That's a risk developers take by signing with a publisher.
Re:Helldivers 2 PSN account linking update will not be movin... by CleaveIt2Beaver on Monday May 06, 2024 @02:50PM (#40278134)
Arrowhead's CEO was on Twitter explicitly telling people to refund and leave negative reviews, as that customer feedback gives them more leverage to negotiate with when discussing reverting the unpopular change. But nice "what about the children".
Re:Helldivers 2 PSN account linking update will not be movin... by PawgerZ on Monday May 06, 2024 @04:30PM (#40279145)
The developer a casualty, but not in the way you're trying to portray. They were a casualty of Sony's descision to cut the game off from over half of the countries in the world. In addition, the Helldiver's team and CEO told everyone to let Sony know what we thought with our words and our pockets, so we did -- and it worked. I'd suggest looking into these things more before spouting nonsense.

To us, you come off as irrational trying to defend Sony while using the developers as your (unwilling) ammo.

Re:Helldivers 2 PSN account linking update will not be movin... by pauby on Monday May 06, 2024 @06:40AM (#40273112)
> Who do you think is going to be hurt?

By doing nothing? The consumer.

Voicing your disagreement with a company (whatever the reason) is necessary to get things to change.

Perhaps doing so will stop future decisions that hurt consumers and by consequence the developers, publishers etc.

I don't think it's too much to say they brought this on themselves by their actions and the backlash will cause them to think twice about doing the same in future.

Re:Helldivers 2 PSN account linking update will not be movin... by aaomidi on Monday May 06, 2024 @10:16AM (#40274968)
Even if it hurts the devs, it’s a warning sign for other devs to not sign contracts with Sony.
Re:Helldivers 2 PSN account linking update will not be movin... by krainboltgreene on Monday May 06, 2024 @02:54AM (#40271908)
> Is the same game you were posting memes about yesterday, suddenly bad?

For many people, yes, it did in fact become bad, they had it taken away.

> Who do you think you are going to hurt between the less-than-30-person studio or the multinational behemoth?

In this particular case the game studio asked for this action.

Re:Helldivers 2 PSN account linking update will not be movin... by braiamp on Monday May 06, 2024 @10:17AM (#40274976)
So, if I want to share my displeasure with a product I shouldn't show this displeasure with reviews? WTH? How companies will get feedback from their customers without reviews?! How customers would share their experiences with one another? How prospective customers would be informed before buying a product?
Re:Helldivers 2 PSN account linking update will not be movin... by burnte on Monday May 06, 2024 @03:25PM (#40278542)
> Who do you think you are going to hurt between the less-than-30-person studio or the multinational behemoth?

Evidence indicates it hurt Sony far more than the developers.

> Are you going to refund the game today then buy it again tomorrow when the change is reverted? You might be hurting the developer even more.

Unlikely as Sony, the distributor/publisher is the party from whom refunds will be taken, the developer only gets paid after Sony takes their cuts.

> IMO Steam reviews should completely disappear as it's no longer an useful gaugfe of a game quality.

They might! This is a valid point and might be the opinion of Valve, too, if Sony or the publisher ask. They've done it before.

> Hell, I see people leave negative reviews to co-op games such as "I hAvE No fRiEnDs tO PlAy iT WiTh lOl." Are you stupid?

Yes, lots of people are very stupid, but that's not relevant here.

> Besides, buy the game, test it and if you don't like refund it.

How does one test a game when the publisher makes changes months after initial release? How is what you're suggesting here different from what you criticized a few lines above?

Don't worry for Sony, they'll be fine.

Re:Helldivers 2 PSN account linking update will not be movin... by johnnyanmac on Monday May 06, 2024 @04:46AM (#40272553)
>if you care for your game and your players first of all, and not micro transactions or "spreading the message", you can truly create something special.

For the game that has micro transactions. Already knew it from the Steam Marketplace, but rule of cool is in full effect, even in a medium historically thought of as geeky.

>It'll be interesting to see how long it takes for the reviews to be updated in the days ahead.

Bad news, many won't. Nasty side effect of review bombs is that people "forget" to update just as quickly as they start the drama.

Good news, Steams review system means they heal naturally. But it'll probably take months to get back to "outstanding" rating again, or whatever Steam calls it.

Re:Helldivers 2 PSN account linking update will not be movin... by bluefirebrand on Monday May 06, 2024 @09:19AM (#40274288)
> For the game that has micro transactions

Compared to most other live service games around, the MTX in Helldivers 2 is both unobtrusive and minimal

A vast majority of the content is earned in game, with no way to purchase it with MTX. Also you earn the premium currency in the game by playing, so there no content locked out permanently behind MTX purchases

It's a move in the right direction compared to most games with MTX, they do deserve some credit here even if they aren't perfect

Re:Helldivers 2 PSN account linking update will not be movin... by sundvor on Monday May 06, 2024 @07:06PM (#40280506)
This comment cycle is so predictable. :-) Yup, you don't have to pay for a single thing if you play the game enough, you find super credits on the map as you go about - or unlock from Warbonds with medals - it's one of the things I love about it.

I've (happily) paid for one Warbonds set, earned another. And close to unlocking my third.

A couple of points:

There's a few individual (mainly cosmetic) items on daily rotation available for instant unlock, but you still have to earn medals in the game to unlock e.g weapons in the Warbond sets.

And there's no time limit on the Warbonds, you can unlock them at any point in time.

Reviews are already coming back, I'm tracking the Steam graph and we're back to "mixed" now. The Daily graph for 6th May was very encouraging!

Re:Helldivers 2 PSN account linking update will not be movin... by haiku2077 on Monday May 06, 2024 @10:02AM (#40274803)
MTX in HD2 is extremely well handled. Everything is reasonably unlockable by playing the game, since you get enough currency through regular gameplay to customize your character how you like.