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Helldivers 2 Removed from Purchase on Steam in over 150 Countries

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Re: Helldivers 2 Removed from Purchase on Steam in over 150 Countries

#41

Post by DEADMINCE »

out_of_protocol wrote: post #31
flohofwoe wrote: post #6

I wonder why the number of countries doesn't add up. PSN is available in 73 out of 195 countries, while Steam is available everywhere. Shouldn't that put the number of countries where the game isn't available anymore at 122 instead of 177? (not that it matters much in practice of course)

> Valve says that Steam is avaible in 237 countries. there are territories that are considered countries by valve that arent recognized by the world as being their own separate country like Taiwan From Google, 2017.

I'd be curious to see their list. They have almost 40 more countries than most agencies would consider to exist.

Re: Helldivers 2 Removed from Purchase on Steam in over 150 Countries

#42

Post by vifon »

croes wrote: post #27
flohofwoe wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...unless you have an "all digital" console like the Xbox S.

Your choice.

Sounds very similar to the paid data processing opt-out Facebook does now. That actually might be an interesting case.

Re: Helldivers 2 Removed from Purchase on Steam in over 150 Countries

#43

Post by Dystakruul »

flohofwoe wrote: post #11
pyinstallwoes wrote: post #8

Sorry, I lack context, what happened?

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).

> suddenly has a requirement

I think players were already asked to link their accounts since the game's release, but it was optional (in the sense that you could easily skip that step).

also, for further context, here's the official announcement that sparked this whole thing: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/553850/view/41968685...

Re: Helldivers 2 Removed from Purchase on Steam in over 150 Countries

#44

Post by bun_terminator »

terramex wrote: post #5
Caligatio wrote: post #2

As a Helldivers 2 PC player who also owns a PS5, this new requirement doesn't bother me personally. However, adding a requirement (it was previously optional) is boneheaded, maybe illegal. It must be terrible to be Arrowhead; they have to sit by and watch while their player base implodes because of a Sony edict.

Requirement was always there, just not enforced due to „technical issues”. https://web.archive.org/web/20231207163847/https://store.ste... > „Requires 3rd-Party Account: PlayStation Network” However, making it purchasable from countries not supported by PSN accounts was big error on their part.

true in legal terms. But it was hidden and the reason given for the change was a blatant lie. They were deceiving users until they could no longer refund. Something like that is often called a scam or fraud

Re: Helldivers 2 Removed from Purchase on Steam in over 150 Countries

#45

Post by out_of_protocol »

sigmoid10 wrote: post #17
flohofwoe wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe somebody at Sony needs to push those PSN user numbers up to get ahead in the rat race.

How would removing players from steam push their numbers? Especially since it is obvious from the charts that the removed countries contributed almost nothing to the active playerbase?

Not obvious at all, so far

> look at steam charts, the player count did not take any obvious hit

> the actual impact won't be fully visible until May 30th or June 4th since that's when they will start blocking access to the game for players who didn't link their accounts

Re: Helldivers 2 Removed from Purchase on Steam in over 150 Countries

#46

Post by out_of_protocol »

DEADMINCE wrote: post #41
out_of_protocol wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Valve says that Steam is avaible in 237 countries. there are territories that are considered countries by valve that arent recognized by the world as being their own separate country like Taiwan From Google, 2017.

I'd be curious to see their list. They have almost 40 more countries than most agencies would consider to exist.

List made by scraping account profiles (7 years ago):

https://github.com/RudeySH/SteamCountries/blob/master/json/c...

Re: Helldivers 2 Removed from Purchase on Steam in over 150 Countries

#48

Post by WhyNotHugo »

Laaas wrote: post #32

Can someone explain the logic behind not supporting all countries by default? What does Sony have to lose by letting people in tiny countries buy their games?

It sounds to me like they care more about people using a PSN account rather than just selling games.

I can't imagine they the tracking data they get from accounts is more profitable than an actual sale.

Perhaps they're convinced that forcing people to create accounts somehow leads to more future sales?

Re: Helldivers 2 Removed from Purchase on Steam in over 150 Countries

#49

Post by greenish_shores »

viraptor wrote: post #12
unpopularopp wrote: post #3

I hope one day the EU will go after Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. If iOS is a walled garden then consoles are prison.

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 invalid, as you're not controlling it, treating it de-facto more like as a indefinite rent contract.
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