Summary
- Sony removed region locks on Helldivers 2 and other titles, allowing broader access worldwide.
- Negative reviews from prior region locks prompt a community-led effort to change or remove them.
- Players excitedly welcome the removal of region locks to join the cooperative, multiplayer game.
Smell that? That's the sweet, sweet scent of victory, my friend. After a year of fighting against Sony's region locks, Helldivers 2 players are celebrating a big win after the gaming giant has seemingly removed them. And if what's being said is to be believed, pretty much all of Sony's published PC titles have been released from their shackles once more.
Helldivers 2 fans rejoice as Sony reverts its huge region lock
The fight began around a year ago when Sony demanded that Helldivers 2 players need a PlayStation Network (PSN) account to play the game on PC, even if they had zero intention of playing it on a PlayStation console. As you might expect, people weren't happy about tying their game to a system they may never use again, and Helldivers 2 caught a nasty review bomb as a result.
Sony eventually rolled that change back, but maintained a region lock that prevented people from 177 countries from purchasing the game, on the grounds that gamers from said countries couldn't make a PSN account. And while the PSN requirement was gone, people were still miffed that potential players couldn't help defend Super Earth purely because of the country they live in.
Flash forward to today, and X user Wario64 makes a post identifying a huge change in the blocked region list of Sony-published PC titles (thanks for the spot, GamesRadar). That list of 177 blocked countries was knocked down to just eight: Belarus, Cuba, Iran, Japan, North Korea, Russia, Syria, and Vietnam. And yes, Helldivers 2 was included in this wave of changes.
Of course, the player base was elated to hear that previously-affected people could now hop in and play again; however, there were still the lingering negative reviews from the bomb the community dropped. As such, the Helldivers 2 playerbase took to the game's official Reddit page to ask people to remove or change their negative reviews as part of a community-led Major Order.
If the Sony region lock left you high and dry, now's the perfect time to hop in and help defend Super Earth with your fellow Helldivers. And if this is the first time you've heard of that game, check out our sister site TheGamer's review of Helldivers 2, where it scored an impressive 4 out of 5.
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OpenCritic Reviews - Top Critic Avg: 83/100 Critics Rec: 91%
- Released
- February 8, 2024
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Arrowhead Game Studios, Nixxes
- Publisher(s)
- Sony Interactive Entertainment, PlayStation Publishing
WHERE TO PLAY
Do you believe in freedom? Can you stand in the face of oppression – and defend the defenceless? Wage war for peace. Die for democracy.
Join forces with up to three friends and wreak havoc on an alien scourge threatening the safety of your home planet, Super Earth, in this multiplayer co-op shooter for PS5 and PC from Arrowhead Game Studios.
Step into the boots of the Helldivers, an elite class of soldiers whose mission is to spread peace, liberty and Managed Democracy using the biggest, baddest and most explosive tools in the galaxy.
Helldivers don't go planet side without proper backup, but it’s up to you to decide how and when to call it in. Not only do you have a host of superpowered primary weapons and customizable loadouts, you also have the ability to call on stratagems during play.
Helldivers 2 features Arrowhead's best cooperative gameplay yet. Collaboration will be vital: Teams will synergize on loadouts, strategize their approach for each mission and complete objectives together.1
Enlist in Super Earth’s premier military peacekeeping force today. We are heroes… we are legends… WE ARE HELLDIVERS.
- Genre(s)
- Third-Person Shooter, Extraction Shooter, Action, Science Fiction