The situation around one of this year's breakout hits, Helldivers 2, continues to unfold as a new front has opened in this ongoing story. Now the Helldivers 2 PSN requirement controversy has evolved to add a delisting from well over 100 countries on Steam to the mix.
Several hours ago, Helldivers 2 was updated on Steam removing the option to purchase it from over 170 Steam regions. These regions make up over 100 different countries where it is not possible to create a legal PlayStation Network account. It seems this step was taken to prevent further people buying it in regions that wouldn't be able to meet the PSN account requirement. What is not known at this time is if this action was taken by Sony or Valve.
Today has also seen many users successfully requesting refunds via Steam, whether it be because they're from a region that cannot legally create a PSN account or out of protest of this change.
We have reached out to Sony and Valve to inquire about who took the steps to delist the game, and will update this article if we receive any further information.
What else is happening with the Helldivers 2 PSN controversy?
Beyond that, one of the community managers for Arrowhead has addressed some issues. First, it was clarified that the announcement, FAQ, and policy are all coming down from Sony, which publishes Helldivers 2, and not from Arrowhead internally. Second, they clarified the situation regarding players who already have the game, but reside in regions that don't have PSN accounts with the following statement:
"If a better solution isn't provided for players who are in regions without PSN coverage, I'm assured that we won't be making the requirement mandatory for those players. We're not going to force people to either break Sony TOS or not play the game."
The reference to the Sony TOS is that making an account in a region you are not in, is breaking their terms of service, and could lead to a ban. The community manager went on to share that player displeasure gives them more leverage in the discussion with Sony. That comment, pulled like the previous from the official Helldivers discord, was as follows:
Players making their displeasure known through reviews, refunds etc. gives us more pull in the discussions with Sony. They don't read our Discord. It hurts to see the game's popularity suffer in ratings, but discussions are ongoing and our team is on the side of the players in this fight. It's unrealistic to expect people to make PSN accounts in different regions to get past the account linking requirement. We're aware of that. Discussions are ongoing.
Players were already taking the idea of giving negative reviews to heart even before such a unique statement was issued by one of the community managers early this morning. Since the change was announced, there have been over 100k negative reviews published on Steam by purchasers on the Steam store. This has managed to move the all-time rating down to Mixed with only a 57% positive review score, while in recent reviews it is at Mostly Negative with only 23% positive reviews.
This all looms over the upcoming Helldivers 2 Polar Patriots Warbond that is scheduled to release on May 8th. For now, TechRaptor is going to leave you with a full list of the regions impacted by the delisting below.
What are all the regions that Helldivers 2 Steam was delisted from?
Afghanistan
Åland Islands
Albania
Algeria
American Samoa
Angola
Anguilla
Antarctica
Antigua and Barbuda
Armenia
Aruba
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belize
Benin
Bermuda
Bhutan
Bonaire/Sint Eustatius/Saba
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Bouvet Island
British Indian Ocean Territory
British Virgin Islands
Brunei Darussalam
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cabo Verde
Cambodia
Cameroon
Cayman Islands
Central African Republic
Chad
Christmas Island
Cocos(Keeling) Islands
Comoros
Congo
Cook Islands
Côte d'Ivoire
Cuba
Curaçao
Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Egypt
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Eswatini
Ethiopia
Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
Faroe Islands
Federated States of Micronesia
Fiji
French Guiana
French Polynesia
French Southern Territories
Gabon
Gambia
Georgia
Ghana
Gibraltar
Greenland
Grenada
Guadeloupe
Guam
Guernsey
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
Haiti
Heard Island and McDonald Islands
Holy See
Iraq
Islamic Republic of Iran
Isle of Man
Jamaica
Jersey
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kiribati
Kyrgyzstan
Lao People's Democratic Republic
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Macao
Madagascar
Malawi
Maldives
Mali
Marshall Islands
Martinique
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mayotte
Monaco
Mongolia
Montenegro
Montserrat
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Nauru
Nepal
Netherlands Antilles
New Caledonia
Niger
Nigeria
Niue
Norfolk Island
Northern Mariana Islands
North Macedonia
Pakistan
Palau
Papua New Guinea
Philippines
Pitcairn
Puerto Rico
Republic of Moldova
Réunion
Rwanda
Saint Barthélemy
Saint Helena/Ascension/Tristan da Cunha
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Martin
Saint Pierre and Miquelon
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Samoa
San Marino
Sao Tome and Principe
Senegal
Serbia
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Sint Maarten(Dutchpart)
Solomon Islands
Somalia
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
South Sudan
Sri Lanka
State of Palestine
Sudan
Suriname
Svalbard and Jan Mayen
Syrian Arab Republic
Tajikistan
Timor-Leste
Togo
Tokelau
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkmenistan
Turks and Caicos Islands
Tuvalu
U.S. Virgin Islands
Uganda
United Republic of Tanzania
United States Minor Outlying Islands
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
Venezuela
Vietnam
Wallis and Futuna
Western Sahara
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Note: two regions were also mentioned as unknown on the SteamDB listing, with the region codes FX, and XD. We removed them from the list here for ease of anyone searching for their country. We then adjusted the list to be alphabetical.
