The strange saga surrounding the recent delisting of Helldivers 2 on Steam in certain territories has taken another twist. According to responses from Steam representatives, it was publisher Sony that made the call to pull the game from sale in regions where the PlayStation Network is unavailable – not Valve itself.
The co-op shooter’s availability became a hot-button issue earlier this month when Sony announced plans to require all Helldivers 2 players on PC to link a PSN account, even on the Steam version. This controversial move sparked intense backlash and review-bombing on the Steam page.
In the aftermath, Sony backtracked on enforcing mandatory PSN linking for the Steam version. However, Helldivers 2 had already been delisted from sale in 177 countries where PSN is not operational, including major gaming markets like Russia, Indonesia and Thailand.
The question of whether it was Sony or Valve behind this regional lockout sparked heated debates. But now, in responses shared by affected players, Steam representatives have made it clear the decision came from the publisher side.
“This game is not available for specific regions as decided by the publisher,” one such response reads. Another states that Valve does not know “when the game might be made available in those countries” affected by Sony’s delisting.
Valve is also now having to auto-refund Steam purchases of the upcoming Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut in the same list of PSN-restricted territories, an unprecedented move according to comments from Helldivers 2’s creative director.
Johan Pilestedt of developer Arrowhead Game Studios states the extension to three additional regions where Helldivers 2 can’t be purchased was simply an “administrative error correction” related to the Ghost of Tsushima delisting protocol.
However, Pilestedt maintains the “conversation on region restrictions is still ongoing” with Sony and that Arrowhead wants to see the game available globally once more.
The Helldivers 2 delisting remains a confusing and murky situation on multiple fronts. While Valve has been cleared of directly pulling the game themselves, Sony’s reasoning and future plans regarding regional availability are still unclear.
With the two gaming giants seemingly misaligned on the issue, it may take more transparency from Sony to clarify if Helldivers 2 and other upcoming PlayStation titles will remain off limits in countries lacking PSN infrastructure. For now, fans in affected regions are caught in the crossfire of this convoluted dispute over authentication requirements.
