I wonder if it breached the contract/TOS between the game company and valve.
I guess lawyers at valve had to work extra to come up with a decision, because they're probably going to court over this.
Helldivers 2 Removed from Purchase on Steam in over 150 Countries
51–60 of 244 posts
Re: Helldivers 2 Removed from Purchase on Steam in over 150 Countries
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
iOS only matters in this case, because they have close to monopoly in some areas. But at you listed, in the EU you've got Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, and the whole PC market. Consoles are really not a prison in this case. (I agree the behaviour would be regulated a bit either way. But it's not even close to "prison")
They are prison, and it has nothing to do with either regulation or using the laissez-faire approach. You are being sold a computer which is controlled by someone else, even after the sale takes place. That's essentially it. Maybe it would even require no additional regulation, just interpretation of current regulation (the essential basics of civil law, that is) which would make a contract of sale of such device inv…
> You are being sold a computer
Videogame consoles are typically not marketed as general purpose computers.
Out of the box, the only thing I can do on my Nintendo Switch is play videogames.
Re: Helldivers 2 Removed from Purchase on Steam in over 150 Countries
#53This really sucks for some people, but the true impact may be overreported and is definitely blown out of proportion by the review bombing. While all this is hugely controversial on reddit, if you look at steam charts, the player count did not take any obvious hit. In fact it follows the natural trend after every content release. So at least on steam the delisting seems to have affected almost no active players. It's…
> ...in favour of tightening the online service to make future development easier. I really doubt that there is a single technical reason behind the decision, it's more likely that it has been enforced by Sony business peeps.
There is a good technical reason behind that. As far as I can see crossplay doesn't work well at all in the game right now. Mostly issues where inviting friends to play is broken. This isn't surprising when you do not have a common identity system to fallback on for all players.
Re: Helldivers 2 Removed from Purchase on Steam in over 150 Countries
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
They are prison, and it has nothing to do with either regulation or using the laissez-faire approach. You are being sold a computer which is controlled by someone else, even after the sale takes place. That's essentially it. Maybe it would even require no additional regulation, just interpretation of current regulation (the essential basics of civil law, that is) which would make a contract of sale of such device inv…
> You are being sold a computer Videogame consoles are typically not marketed as general purpose computers. Out of the box, the only thing I can do on my Nintendo Switch is play videogames.
Not even this. It probably has a full-fledged browser pre-installed, making its classification as a general-purpose computer pretty obvious even for an average user, and far less "hackish" than otherwise.
Re: Helldivers 2 Removed from Purchase on Steam in over 150 Countries
#55I hope one day the EU will go after Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. If iOS is a walled garden then consoles are prison.
I would make the case the consoles aren't essential for day to day life. They simply aren't general computing devices but have a very specific purpose. They've broaded somewhat to include more media features but few people are securing jobs or submitting government applications on their consoles.
It's the fact that modern living simply requires a phone is why the EU is so upset with Apple and Google putting up their garden walls.
Re: Helldivers 2 Removed from Purchase on Steam in over 150 Countries
#56“Players shocked pikachu sony does something annoying.”
any older users here may remember the SOE (sony online entertainment) days. They’d do evil stuff that would make this look like a rookie move.
Re: Helldivers 2 Removed from Purchase on Steam in over 150 Countries
#57I hope one day the EU will go after Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. If iOS is a walled garden then consoles are prison.
I would make the case the consoles aren't essential for day to day life. They simply aren't general computing devices but have a very specific purpose. They've broaded somewhat to include more media features but few people are securing jobs or submitting government applications on their consoles. It's the fact that modern living simply requires a phone is why the EU is so upset with Apple and Google putting up their…
> consoles aren't essential for day to day life
Maybe so, but that doesn’t mean they can defraud their users
Most the time they break their own Eula, lose customer data, change rules on the fly, etc.
Re: Helldivers 2 Removed from Purchase on Steam in over 150 Countries
#58I hope one day the EU will go after Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. If iOS is a walled garden then consoles are prison.
Apple ecosystem is a prison as well. Just cleverly disguised as a garden :)
Re: Helldivers 2 Removed from Purchase on Steam in over 150 Countries
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
> ...in favour of tightening the online service to make future development easier. I really doubt that there is a single technical reason behind the decision, it's more likely that it has been enforced by Sony business peeps.
There is no business reason to cut down your own market unless it comes with additional expenses due to technical reasons. I'm pretty sure someone weighed these numbers again after the game's huge upgrades in infrastructure due to its unexpected success and decided differently this time.
I like how people on here act as if corporations are not run by humans with personal flaws and huge egos
Re: Helldivers 2 Removed from Purchase on Steam in over 150 Countries
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
A multiplayer game that's very successful on Steam - but published by Sony - suddenly has a requirement to have both a Steam and PSN account in order to log into the game - a couple of months after the game was released. As a PC gamer I would be pissed too tbh (on the other hand, it's the same bullshit that Ubisoft pulls for their games released on Steam).
And not just that. They required PSN accounts on countries where PSN is not available (and using a VPN to create it goes against the ToS, and people get banned). So in those countries they have effectively banned you from playing the game you purchased weeks ago.
You took my money but refuse to provide the service. This borders on fraud
This sounds like a very simple class action