It's been a week since Sony caved to the many demands from Helldivers 2 players on Steam and decided not to make signing up for a PlayStation Network account a requirement for playing the hit sci-fi shooter game from developer Arrowhead Game Studios.
That was seen as good news by the game's fan base. There's just one problem. The people who live in the over 170 countries where a PSN account cannot be created have still been banned from purchasing Helldivers 2 via Steam for over a week since that decision was made.
Right now, there's no word on when, or even if, this particular move will be reversed. PCGamesN (via Blue's News) posted the text of a Discord message from Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt that he made on Saturday. Based on his message, it doesn't look like this particular issue is going to go away anytime in the near future.
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.
The whole PSN situation has so far not affected the game's sales on Steam. Helldivers 2 is still the fifth best-selling game on Valve's digital game store at the moment. It also is the sixth most-played game on Steam right now, with over 90,000 concurrent players as of this writing.
The PSN controversy continues with the upcoming launch of the PC version of Sony's Ghost of Tsushima. The game, from developer Sucker Punch, also needs a PSN account to access its multiplayer modes.
The game's single-player campaign does not need a PSN account. However, PC gamers who have pre-ordered the title have been reporting they have received automatic refunds if they live in a country where they cannot set up a PSN account.
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