A former Helldivers 2 lead writer has praised the shooter's community for uniting against the recent PSN mandate.
News broke last week that Helldivers 2's PC players would be required to link to an active PlayStation Network account later this month. The stipulation from Sony and Arrowhead was then summarily walked back just a few days later, when the shooter was review-bombed on Steam, in a message from players to let the two companies know how displeased they were with the mandate.
Inverse asks former Helldivers 2 lead writer Russ Nickel about his take on players role-playing Super Earth's fascism, leading the writer to touch on the recent pushback against the PSN requirement. Nickel called the role-playing "amazing," before adding that he hopes "most of them understand what we're trying to say and don't just see it from the surface level."
- After a year of PSN controversy, balance woes, and a 63-day recovery effort, Helldivers 2 devs say "we've been on a rollercoaster, but we're also in an extremely privileged position to be on this rollercoaster"
- Helldivers 2 leads say the game is fun because, yes, "you get to play as the bad guys" and "shout 'freedom!' while killing bugs"
"Just the last couple of days have been one of the most exciting parts of the experience for me," Nickel continues. "The whole community came together to say 'There are players in other countries who aren't going to be able to play the game. We're all going to stand up for each other and be this united front.' It's just like, 'Oh, we trained them to fight together. And then they fought together.' They were standing up for something good, which was their fellow players."
Nickel sides with Helldivers 2's community over the PSN mandate, and he's not alone. It turns out an Arrowhead community manager was seemingly fired for requesting players review-bomb the shooter on Steam to send a message to Sony about the account stipulation. "I knew I was taking a risk with what I said," the developer wrote in a message to players.
In the aftermath of the debacle, Helldivers 2 has still been delisted from 170 countries around the world that didn't have access to the PSN, before the requirement was dropped. The good news is that the game's director is actively talking to Sony and Valve about getting Helldivers 2 back on digital storefronts in said countries as soon as possible.
Arrowhead reveals the Helldivers 2 ideas left on its cutting room floor, from 5-player squads to low-gravity planets and a whole new armor system
Helldivers 2 has a Major Order problem, but the solution isn't simple because "having 100% participation means the MOs will always be won and that introduces other issues"
