Helldivers 2 PC woes prove that PlayStation needs an online overhaul

It’s been a rough few days for Sony. After a plan to implement mandatory PlayStation Network accounts forHelldivers 2 players on PC went haywire, one would imagine that the company is having a lot of talks behind closed doors right now. If there’s one thing I hope Sony takes away from everything, it’s that PlayStation’s online services need a 2.0 revamp.

It all kicked off when Sony announced that all Helldivers 2 players on PC would be required to have a PSN account to play and would no longer be optional. The backlash was instant, but not for unfounded reasons. Many players expressed concern about living in a country where they couldn’t even create a PSN account, leading to the eventual backpedaling of the decision.

This fiasco with Helldivers 2 is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the issues the current online infrastructure desperately needs to resolve — and it isn’t just limited to PSN accounts. It’s time for PlayStation to modernize its online services if it’s moving into the world of PC gaming.

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PlayStation Network rework

The circus surrounding Helldivers 2 highlighted one major problem with Sony’s online service, but the issues with Sony’s services run deeper. First, there are the more pressing restrictions surrounding availability. PSN accounts are not available in all regions, and your account is locked to whatever region you create it in. This meant that anyone who had purchased Helldivers 2 and happened to live in one of the many countries in which they could not create a PSN account would be left out in the cold. While this no doubt irked a small subset of players prior to this event, shoehorning a PSN account requirement for a game sold on a platform offering the game everywhere becomes a bigger issue.

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