As a product with great response and outstanding commercial performance in the first half of 2024, “Hell Diver 2” has caused another “phenomenal” event in the past few days during the May Day holiday.
On May 3, SIE issued an announcement stating that starting from May 6, new players of the Steam version of “Helldiver 2” will be required to bind a PSN account to play the game. As a result, the incident quickly escalated as soon as the news came out. A large number of steam users expressed opposition, believing that PC players did not need to apply for an additional PSN account. Sony was engaging in overlord clauses.
In order to feedback their ideas to the official, players united to bombard the game with negative reviews, causing the game’s evaluation to plummet. As of May 5, the number of negative reviews on Steam for this game has reached 215,000.
Faced with such clear opposition from players, the officials were once quite tough and even removed the game from the shelves in 177 countries and regions and restricted purchase and activation. I thought this was a short-term pain that Sony had to go through to support its own ecosystem across PCs, but at noon today, Sony was still intimidated – “It was originally planned to require new players and existing players to link their Steam and PlayStation Network accounts from May 30. It will no longer be done.”
The three-day struggle finally came to an end with the victory of justice for the players, and democracy was once again demonstrated. However, in my opinion, this matter is far from being summed up by the sentence “Sony’s crimes are heinous.”
Major manufacturers have relied on the Steam platform to attract traffic to their own products for a long time. Why can’t Sony do what others can do? After traditional console manufacturers cross over to PC, how can they effectively promote their own services? I think this incident still has many dimensions worth thinking about today when the trend of platform integration is becoming more and more obvious.
Sony, don’t underestimate PC gamers!
After reading the whole story, my first reaction was:PC players are indeed more proactive in defending their rights.As someone who has been involved in console platforms all year round, I have unconsciously accepted the setting of “to play XX games, register for XX accounts”.
For example, in order to play the PS5 version of “Diablo 4” last year, I went through a lot of trouble to register a new foreign server Blizzard account. In order to synchronize the save files of the PS version of “Baldur’s Gate 3” to Steam, I got a Larian membership.
Similar to the doubts of some players in the current “Helldiver 2” controversy, many of the accounts I registered are basically just for entering the game and will not be used again at all. It can be called an ineffective forced promotion. On the PC side, many players are also forced by leading players such as Ubisoft, EA, and Rockstar. Who doesn’t curse rotten oranges and rotten potatoes, and then register obediently? Behind the forced acceptance, there are indeed long-standing grievances.
Who doesn’t have their own platform these days?
But it still takes two minutes to register. Why is Sony being criticized as a typical example? Are the players unable to bear it anymore and finally breaking out?
I think the first main reason is,Or Sony itself was not well prepared and the reasons it gave failed to convince the public.It is best to vigorously promote this kind of behavior of creating thresholds and screening users in the early stages of launch. Even if the initial implementation cannot be implemented in time due to technical and other reasons, there should be more eye-catching reminders.
Interestingly, binding PSN is indeed a to-do list that has been set for a long time. Pilestedt, CEO of developer Arrowhead, also admitted that he knew about the requirement to force PSN binding to the game about six months before its release, but failed to follow up at the time just to ensure a smooth launch.
It would be completely wrong to mention this matter three months after the game has been launched and has become a hit. Although binding to PSN is a free service, it somewhat feels like “land harvesting”. In particular, the reasons given by Sony such as “for security reasons” are even more difficult to be generally accepted by players.
At the same time, for users in some countries and regions, registering for PSN is still “not easy and useless”.
Since PSN only provides services in more than 60 countries around the world and does not have its own platform on the PC side, many steam users naturally develop resistance in terms of cognition and operation. Not to mention whether there are risks in registering a foreign server account, the long distance from PC users makes registering for PSN no longer about enjoying the service, but more like completing the “master’s task”.
In addition, such a big or small incident happened to a large extent because ofSony does not fully understand the habits of Steam users.
Although there is a certain trend of “grand unification” in the game industry, there are still considerable differences and barriers among fans of different platforms such as mobile phones, consoles, and PCs. For the same thing, the “tolerance” of users on different platforms can be said to be completely different. For example, if you talk to a Steam player about exclusivity, they will think it is a legacy of the times, and many console players may not completely feel the same way about this PSN registration crisis.
There are many reasons for this difference.
For example, the relatively closed ecosystem of game consoles allows players to develop the habit of passively accepting decisions made by manufacturers. Moreover, on platforms such as PS and NS, there is no intuitive and effective form of exchange of opinions between players and manufacturers. In many cases, feedback has to be provided through lagging methods such as social networks and sales.
Don’t underestimate this icon
However, Steam, a platform that has risen rapidly in the past ten years, has an unprecedented spirit of decentralization. Players’ positive and negative reviews have an impact that cannot be ignored on product sales and long-term operating popularity. They have a greater sense of ownership and participation. Even if it only takes two minutes to register, mandatory additional terms that impact the spirit of the contract can still easily trigger the outburst of user opposition.
So when console manufacturers want to bring products and services to PC,You should have a deeper understanding of the user group, and use a method that they like to hear and see to gently promote your goals.Instead of giving a rough notice and a “grace date”. As mentioned in Sony’s current “reflection” announcement: We are still studying what is best for PC players.
But at least they know how to choose the best solution right away – sliding and kneeling at the speed of light.
Victory for players
The inevitable cross-border demand of first-party hardware
So after this crisis, will Sony give up bringing PSN services to PC players? I think the answer is no.
As a platform that integrates various products and has a large user base, it is normal for steam to be used as a traffic drainage tool by other manufacturers. Just like when I bought “Fall Beans” on Steam but was forced to bind an Epic account, this kind of manufacturer behavior will not disappear in the short term. It is normal for players to want a “unified platform” from their own perspective, but what manufacturers obviously want to do is to establish their own fields and cultivate their own users as soon as possible.
“Follow Bean Man” also caused similar conflicts that year
In particular, Sony, as a first-party manufacturer with its own hardware platform, cross-PC is certainly not just to pay rent to G Fat and earn some software sales (of course, the estimated steam sales of “Hell Diver 2” account for half, which should not be underestimated. ). Compared to many third-party manufacturers, Sony undoubtedly has a more urgent need to acquire customers.
But what is more embarrassing is that Sony may be the only manufacturer that wants to divert PC players to PS hardware.
Microsoft’s business model mainly sells XGP services and is deeply integrated with PCs. It hardly cares about hardware sales, not to mention that some of its first-party products have begun to land on the PS5 platform. Nintendo, on the other hand, remained unmoved and ignored the PC at all, and continued to implement its exclusive strategy in response to changes. Only this generation of Sony seems eager to try to show its brand charm on PC while maintaining a considerable installed base.
Admittedly, this will definitely be a bit “unpleasant” in the short term. Old console players believe that going to PC is a wrong move and a betrayal of only being on PlayStation. PC users don’t accept this at all and only feel arrogant. Just the higher pricing of first-party games on Steam will make it difficult to win people’s hearts in the short term.
However, PC players are a new customer group, especially under Sony’s business philosophy of cultivating long-term operating products, it is actually necessary to involve PC players.
It’s just that Sony is still a little anxious. Now it seems that it may still be able to lay a solid foundation for “Helldiver 2” with the help of steam platform users. Even if the PSN service cannot be promoted in time in the future, it can also create a name for the launch of other long-term operating products. First stabilize the brand’s appeal, then promote its own platform, and even build a PSN launcher for some games on PC in the future. Wouldn’t it be a good thing?
So I guess there’s nothing wrong with Sony’s fall. After this turmoil, Sony should pay more attention to the needs of users on other platforms and seek a more comfortable entry point.
For example, instead of forcing account binding, we can provide some exclusive skins for players who have bound to PSN. In this way, players may overcome all difficulties and actively register. Just smooth your hair and don’t slap the smiling person. These days, it is more popular to create a corporate image that is willing to listen than to pretend to be a cold boss.
