A Valve representative says Helldivers 2 was removed by Sony, not Steam

Steam representatives have informed some Helldivers 2 players that the game’s publisher, Sony, has pulled it from sale in regions where PSN is not available, not Steam itself.

Earlier this month, Sony announced that Helldivers 2 players on Steam will soon be required to link to a PSN account for safety and security. She said this was always going to be a requirement for PC players, but due to issues at launch, the link became optional for a while.

The news was immediately met with intense backlash, leading to an outpouring of negative comments from Helldivers 2 players on Steam. Many requested refunds as Helldivers 2 was pulled from sale in 177 countries where PSN was not available, which eventually led to Sony scrapping its plans to enforce mandatory PSN tethering for Helldivers 2 players on Steam altogether.

In one AnswerOne player was told that the game had been pulled from “select regions” “as determined by the publisher,” and Steam did not know “when the game might be available in those countries.” Players were then invited to contact Sony themselves to “participate.” [their] Feedback” if they have any further questions.

The news is supposed to calm debate among players over whether Steam or Sony removed the game in affected areas, but it is the latest in a bewildering and confusing list of mistakes made by Sony as it scrambles to mitigate the fallout.

As for why three additional regions were added to the restriction, even though Sony backed away from the decision to force players to connect to a PSN account? This is clearly related to a similar delisting strategy for the upcoming Ghost of Tsushima game, for which Steam has taken the unprecedented measure of automatically refunding players who purchased it in countries where PSN is not available.

According to Helldivers 2’s creative director and Arrowhead CEO, Johan Pilestedt, it was great “Correcting administrative errors”.

“So, to provide an update on the three additional restrictions for countries. It was a correction of an administrative error – it should have been part of the original restriction and was noted when the restriction was imposed on Tsushima,” Billstedt explained on Discord. “Valve noticed this and implemented it.

“Although it does not sound positive, it is not an indication of further restrictions. The conversation about regional restrictions continues and is independent of this.”

Pilestedt finished by saying that he “didn’t have more information” but that developer Arrowhead “still wants the game to be available everywhere.”