Ultimately, it was an extremely complicated weekend for Arrowhead Game Studios. After it was announced that linking a Steam and PlayStation Network account would be necessary to play Helldivers 2, the community got to work to reverse that situation. After days of struggle, the fans won. The next goal? Restoring the honor of the game.
Since PSN is not available in nearly 200 countries, many users would be unable to log in and play. Consequently, the fan base organized a review bombing campaign as the multiplayer title was withdrawn from sale in territories where Sony's service is absent.
The community acted swiftly and achieved its goal by leaving over 200,000 negative reviews on Steam. On May 5th, PlayStation announced it will backtrack on its plans, meaning the linking of PlayStation Network and Steam accounts would no longer be a mandatory requirement. Fans celebrated the victory, but now it's time to restore the game's image.
Helldivers 2 Fans Write Thousands of Negative Reviews on Steam
Since PlayStation and Sony changed their minds, the controversy came to an end earlier this week; however, the aftermath of the struggle is still visible. Due to receiving thousands of critiques over the weekend, Helldivers 2 went from its pristine score to having mostly negative reviews on the Valve platform.
Although Arrowhead Game Studios was also embroiled in the controversy, the mandatory account linking was ultimately a decision by Sony. Thus, players believed it unfair to lash out against the game and the development studio.
Now that the controversy is in the past, the community believes it's time to share positive reviews. Through a Reddit post, a user launched an initiative: Operation Cleanup, which involves writing favorable comments on Steam. Thousands of fans responded to the call.
As reported by the PC Gamer portal, Helldivers 2 saw 87,921 favorable ratings in the past hours. Thus, overall reviews shifted from mixed to mostly positive, while recent ones are now varied. Of course, there's still a long way to go to fully restore the game's honor.
Meanwhile, Johan Pilestedt, CEO of Arrowhead Game Studios and creative director of the multiplayer video game, expressed surprise at the community's willpower and ability to collaborate. Furthermore, he joked about the possibility of adding a cosmetic item inspired by the controversy.
But tell us, do you think the game deserves positive reviews after the controversy? Let us hear from you in the comments.
Helldivers 2 is available for PC and PS5. Follow this link to read more related news about it.
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