It’s not that Steam isn’t definitely a good platform and convenient, it’s not about that, it’s just the extreme attachment that comes from its fanboys.
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I think when a company is consumer friendly you do become more attached and Steam has definitely done that for a very long time now.
All of the other gaming platforms (including Xbox) haven’t been as reliable in that regard.
People associate Steam with saving PC gaming when it felt like it was all but dead. They really hate Sony, though; I’m not sure where that comes from.
I think people who are dismissing this need to remember that after the PSN requirement, there will now be players that simply can’t play because PSN isn’t available in their country… so unless I’m missing something here, maybe we should remember that before we just jump to labeling people.
What’s more insane to me is that the media made more of a deal about a completely dismissible one-time full screen pop up on Xbox than they do for something that effectively limits the audience.
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They changed all of this after the game was launched as well, which is something they easily could have implemented at launch. I’ve also seen print screens circulating online taken from the PS website about PSN account requirement before May 3 and it said that PSN account would be optional and after May 3 the language changed to say that PSN can be made mandatory in some games.
Seems like Sony is after those MAUs for that ‘‘growth’’ and is now trying to get their account system everyone like MS has done for years. Can’t wait for another narrative change because the other guys are now doing it…
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I wasn’t aware of this, that definitely is bonkers if it doesn’t get resolved, people affected by it would basically be unable to play the game anymore. But… Also, honestly, it’s gotta be a really small number of people, I don’t think it’s most of the people complaining and review bombing etc. but it’s definitely a valid point for complaining and refunding. No way they don’t try to solve at least that part with the region availability.
I think there’s multiple elements there.
- Sony locking exclusives away from PC.
- Annoyance around first party PS games not coming to PC
- When PS games do come to PC they have quite often been poor ports.
- Annoyance with console players in cross-play who typically don’t communicate/cooperate as much.
Probably a few more issues in missing too.
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PSN is only available in 69 of around 190 countries so it could actually be more significant then some are assuming.
For example most of Africa doesn’t have PSN. Here’s a full list.
- Afghanistan
- Albania
- Algeria
- Andorra
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Armenia
- Azerbaijan
- The Bahamas
- Bangladesh
- Barbados
- Belarus
- Belize
- Benin
- Bolivia
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Botswana
- Brunei
- Burkina Faso
- Burundi
- Cabo Verde
- Cambodia
- Cameroon
- The Cayman Islands
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Comoros
- Cote d’ Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
- Cuba
- Democratic Republic of Congo
- Djibouti
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Egypt
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Estonia
- Eswatini
- Ethiopia
- Fiji
- Gabon
- Gambia
- Georgia
- Ghana
- Grenada
- Guinea
- Guyana
- Haiti
- Iran
- Iraq
- Jamaica
- Jordan
- Kazakhstan
- Kenya
- Kiribati
- Kosovo
- Kyrgyzstan
- Laos
- Latvia
- Lesotho
- Liberia
- Libya
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Maldives
- Mali
- Marshall Islands
- Mauritania
- Mauritius
- Micronesia
- Moldova
- Monaco
- Mongolia
- Montenegro
- Morocco
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Nauru
- Nepal
- Niger
- Nigeria
- North Macedonia
- Oman
- Pakistan
- Palau
- Papua New Guinea
- Republic of the Congo
- Rwanda
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- San Marini
- Sao Tome and Principe
- Senegal
- Seychelles
- Sierra Leone
- The Solomon Islands
- Somalia
- South Sudan
- Sri Lanka
- Sudan
- Suriname
- Syria
- Tajikistan
- Tanzania
- Timor-Leste
- Togo
- Tonga
- Tunisia
- Turkmenistan
- Tuvalu
- Uganda
- Uzbekistan
- Vanuatu
- Venezuela
- Yemen
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
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The region thing is definitely a problem and I’m glad they are giving people refunds. I do think there is a significant number of people that are upset about this that are within the supported regions though.
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Likely, however I kind of agree with them.
Many of them are probably complaining for the sake of it, however if you are cautious with your personal data you shouldn’t be forced to retrospectively give your data to another company (which has previously been hacked multiple times) for something you already own and use.
For such a significant change they should volunteer a refund process upfront IMO.
I’m sure they won’t be making the same mistake in future and it will be implemented at launch.
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Regarding Helldivers 2, Sony should make signing up to PSN optional for their games but if you do, you get a 10% discount on a future purchase and for each additional game you connect to PSN with, you get an extra 5% discount. I don’t know how many games Sony has on Steam so I will just say 5, linking all 5 would get the user a 30% discount on a future purchase on Steam.
For regions that don’t have PSN, I simply wouldn’t state that it’s needed when it doesn’t exist in those regions.
At least, that’s what I would do because while it will probably be minimal, Sony is hurting/killing their first major live service game outside of MLB The Show. But whatever.
Looking forward to seeing when/if Sony tries to force their own PC Launcher for new ports. 
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It’s definitely coming. 
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Id welcome that if it meant day and date plus ability to play classic PS games
Fuck the whole steam monopoly shite. I think thats the main reason why sony are hesitant on pc gaming.
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Dude, yes. It’s so weird. I like steam. But damn do pc main gamers act like it’s the second coming of christ. Like they despised the thought of a competing platform. They hail the monopoly that is steam. Why? Wtf do they gain from this?
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Xbox did that and they soon realised and course corrected.
Launching there own store is ok but making things exclusive to it will bite them in the back.
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To be fair think of how many TV streaming apps there are - when PC went towards launchers for each publisher (some had it per game ffs) it was starting to get silly.
These weren’t little streaming apps either, most were hefty, by default started when your PC did so slowed it down (as if you didn’t exit them they would hog resources and bandwidth) and spammed you with ads - and always wanted updates and often conflicted with each other.
PC gamers I think see Steam with its fair approach to all developers and being a one-stop shop as something to be protected to avoid that situation again…
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Yep they do give Sony a free pass on so much.
Also, if Sony were going to force PSN then why allow it to be sold in those countries on Steam?
Anyone who has a friend in one of those countries that they play with is going to be annoyed too, so it’s a ripple effect - and PC gamers do seem to stick together more to fight things (kind of like Xbox players about the Gold price rise, while some Sony fanboys seem to beg PlayStation to take more money from them?!).
If you’re upfront with players they’ll moan a bit but move on, this moving the goalposts after selling it (and changing the sign up page just now to say required rather than optional) is just not good.
Apparently the developers are throwing Sony under the bus too - pointing out the requirement came from Sony and to leave a negative review or refund if you’re not happy to send them a message (see With over 84 thousand negative Helldivers 2 Steam reviews in two days, developer Arrowhead seems to be grappling with Sony over its controversial PSN sign-in requirement | PC Gamer)
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Also I think it shows if Steam are automatically refunding players past the usual cut off, that they set the rules as I bet Sony don’t want that.
In Valve’s eyes, if you change the rules after you’ve sold the game then you’re open to refunds.
It definitely helps put to bed the thought of Sony bullying Valve so their games are blocked from sale on certain devices - I’m pretty sure Gabe’s answer to Sony on that will be two short words…
(And no the GeForce Now situation isn’t comparable as what Nvidia was doing at the time without talking to publishers first actually breached the licensing agreements on the games)
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