Helldivers 2 PC players secure refunds as Steam waives playtime limit

Steam is refunding players with hundreds of in-game hours in Helldivers 2 after publisher Sony and developer Arrowhead told PC players that in order to keep playing after next month, they would have to link to a PSN account.

One player managed to secure a Steam refund despite having played Helldivers 2 for 90+ hours by simply submitting a refund request with the message: “Sony has retroactively changed how the game works and forced legal agreements upon me I do not accept”.

Refunds on Steam work – here is good guy Steam accepting simple, straightforward logic.
byu/lockes5hadow inHelldivers

To see this content please enable targeting cookies.

Manage cookie settings

Earlier today, we learned that Helldivers 2 has been pulled from sale in 177 countries and territories as its PlayStation Network (PSN) linking requirement rolls out, even where PSN is not available.

Developer Arrowhead said this linking requirement was made optional when the game released at the beginning of February due to technical issues. However, that initial “grace period” for Helldivers 2 players on Steam is now over, and on Friday, Helldivers 2’s publisher Sony announced that players on Steam will soon be required to link to a PSN account.

Since then, the game has been battered by over 200,000 negative reviews from Helldivers 2 players on Steam.

Arrowhead CEO and Helldivers 2 creative director, Joan Pilestedt – who has been candidly and good-naturedly fielding comments, questions, and complaints all weekend – has told players that while the studio “does not handle selling the game” and “wouldn’t know why you can’t make an account in different parts of the world”, he himself does “have a part to play” in the confusion.

“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,” Pilestedt said. “I did not ensure players were aware of the requirement and we didn’t talk about it enough.

“We knew for about six months before launch that it would be mandatory for online PS titles.”

Pilestedt said that the team was still “talking solutions with PlayStation, especially for non-PSN countries”.

“Your voice has been heard, and I am doing everything I can to speak for the community – but I don’t have the final say,” he said earlier today.