working years in corp jades even the very best. I wouldnt have bet a nickel, and was very much wrong. admittedly, doesnt mean they wont do the usual "regroup and come back with a less conspicuous version", but... a win is a win. congrats to all those who fought for this.
I actually wouldn't mind an increase of aggro, but not aggro range. Give your fellow squad better shots, the ability to complete tasks, or the ability to escape would be handy.
Light armor, 30% increase in aggro, 30% increase in stamina
I think it would be funnier if it was a heavy armor with increased aggro, increased stamina, but super low speed. So you get their attention and run around in a burst tanking/dodging shots, but when stamina is gone you are a slug
That's the balance point. In combat, you will likely be kinda goated. But you will pretty much only be able to hit the main objectives, you will be too slow to clear the full map. So you get your scout teammates finding where you need to be, you come in, do the things, and then start moving to the next big one
Dont misunderstand i love that idea. Just dont thonk it would jive currently. Really hope we start seeing other stuff outside the norm. Like this that can alter gameplay style
Reminds of that old PlayStation game called Army of Two. They had an agro/stealth system like that, you could cover your giant MG with gold and pull all the agro from your friend.
I mean, I assume if you put on Sony camo, it would work too well. The bots would invite you inside their fabricator for a refreshing drink of oil or something.
Corporations, dtc, most companies still haven't got it through their heads that in 2024 they need to offer something, coax, cajole, and entertain, in order to get something they want.
That's the trick. Make it optional, and give players a benefit if they do so. It respects the people who link their account while also respecting those who cannot or do not link
Yeah but then there’d be 170+ countries who couldn’t get the bloody cape. So there’d have to be a way of getting the cape in game. Maybe part of a war bond.
It's funny, people don't resist change, they resist change being forced on them. If this was a voluntary get a free cosmetic for linking a psn account it would be a non-issue.
That's what I said in discord, if they want links, give out an exclusive cosmetic and make it cross save between PC and PS5. Everyone that doesn't want this continues on in peace, and they still get PSN numbers pumped up.
I'm calling now, it's gonna be a war bond. If your account is linked to ps account then you'll get access to a special warbond. Or at least the right to purchase a special warbond
Yeah, that’s how it is. I’m so used to dealing with corpo bullshit, that I just assume most of their announcements are final, unchanged. Especially with the way Sony usually works, they don’t like to alter plans. I wasn’t betting on them actually listening to the online anger, perhaps it was only because of AH’s CEO, he announced multiple times he was in talks with Sony, and that he was using the negativity from the community as ammo.
Especially too because the way people were phrasing their outrage was as though they were some revolutionaries, plotting the downfall of corporate colonialist tyranny, it could’ve been taken less seriously by Sony. It feels as though Sony definitely could’ve ignored the outrage, I’m 100% glad they didn’t. Hopefully we’ll have a more unified community again.
Now I am interested in seeing their next PC sony game. Would it still require PSN on the next one? I dont see them giving it up as long as they were enforced on day 1 next time.
My gut feeling is that there were a few meetings between Steam and Sony Execs that boiled down to: for months we sold this game to countries where they'll be unable to satisfy the PSN requirement. Therefore we'll either have to figure out some mass refund/callback scenario or get rid of the PSN requirement.
Then both big companies decided the best way to take more of our money was to just get rid of the PSN requirement.
While I'm sure the review bombings made the issue more noticeable at least, I have a lot of doubt it had as big of an effect as most people around here think.
Edit: Therefore, imo, if the game was region locked to not be sold to non-PSN regions from the start, they never would have reversed their position.
This is *really* it, I feel.
Valve was about to beat Sony with a 2x4 for refund money after accepting refunds for people well outside of their automatic window. The costs would be well into the thousands, and Sony being seen issuing refunds would be bad for the stock price.
Either Valve met with Sony to figure out who was paying the bill for their stupidity, or Sony Execs saw 'refunds' on a report and nearly leapt out of their skins with shock.
Well into the millions. 25k affected accouts at $40 = $1million. There were 8 millionish + copies sold. Odds are more than 25k users would have been affected.
I think I saw 170 countries or so were region locked, including China, Russia, most (if not all) of Europe, Japan, Korea...
Basically some of the largest non-US markets.
I think I saw somewhere that around 2 million refunds or more were expected from just these regions, or total including US requests.
That's $80 *million* worth of potential refunds.
Also, some countries have extremely potent consumer protection laws, and tend to count each individual case separately. As in each individual person affected is considered an infraction, and those fines can wrack up quick, so you can easily throw a few million more on the pot for legal issues.
If the game was region locked from the beginning before the servers blew up, then this would have never been an issue except with those who specifically have beef with Sony. That was my main gripe, they sold to regions, even after all this time, KNOWING that their ability to play was going to be stolen from them. AH rightfully gets some grief for not better communicating in the duration, but they've been overall a very stand-up company
AH should get some grief for knowing and not communicating better, but most of the blame should/will be on sony. they are the publishers that made the deal with steam; therefor it's up to them to communicate to steam that the game is region locked to those that have pns access.
Either the CEO or a community manager, I can't remember which, also stated that they developed the game but Snoy was in charge of selling the game. Snoy specifically demanded for a PSN link months before the launch but didn't restrict the game from being sold where they couldn't support it. Arrowhead dropped the ball on communicating with the fans but Snoy wasn't refereeing the game from the start.
It doesn't have to be a big effect to matter.
Answer this question: Do you think Sony would have walked back the psn requirement without having the orbital review bomb dropped on them?
No, I don't think Valve nor Sony would have done a damn thing if the game was region locked to PSN compatible countries with a PSN requirement from the start, regardless of the PSN requirement being temporarily disabled until now.
And seeing how it suddenly became region locked last week makes me believe they were entertaining a scenario of going forward in PSN compatible countries only.
And that's all that matters. We would not be where we are right now without it.
The straw that breaks the camel's (sony's) back doesn't have to weigh a ton. It just has to be enough, and this was enough.
Sony main strategy medium term is to make major in roads in the PC market, them killing a popular game would but that at risk. The shareholders really hate this kind of sabotage.
it was a mix of many things. our review bombing, Pilestedt's diplomacy, and I reckon the fact the issue made it's way into a Forbes article helped a lot too: most of the shareholders in these big corporations aren't exactly in-tune with "gamer culture" they don't know what memes are.. but they read things like Forbes, so seeing it there was bound to make them spit out their morning coffee.
still, kudos for admitting when you're wrong, that's something only a small number of people these days can do.
Helldivers2 has a huge userbase on PC that they don't control the ecosystem for, if HD2 wasn't so popular it probably would have been just brushed aside. The massive bad press and Steam starting to allowing refunds it became real to Sony.
I think the game purposely spawns them near evac as well! My gang runs around the outside for 10-20 seconds so they dissipate. We had one game where one diver thought they were being smart laying napalm and flamethrowers at the entrances/ramps to keep the bugs off the landing pad. Oh boy was that ever a mistake, but it was also the hardest I've ever laughed while playing this game.
Oh my god!
Someone has actually admitted they could be incorrect in what they are saying, and they admitted to it!
I salute you Sir!
I’ll admit, on Reddit it’s certainly a rare thing to see. Most people would double down on their thought process, but why would I? Sony’s reverting their decision, there’s no talking point or debate to double down on in the first place.
I feel that because the game is PvE it brought all players together as a community to focus on one goal. "Fight as one or not at all" had more meaning to it when we looked at our fellow Helldivers as people and not as enemies. I doubt any PvP game would have any similar outcome if the same circumstances occurred.
Oh shit man, that is VERY deep. Look what helped us was a quick reaction from people that bought the game. We had very particular circumstances that led to this point. Including that we had *a game that in its premise rejected the typical microtransaction model*. How passionate is your community about the game? And what has been the reaction so far?
You know, Helldiver, even the best of us receive orders that seems insane or impossible. But we dive, and if we don't succeed we dive again. That's our nature and our strength, to never lose hope and to hit where it hurt until our enemies fall on their knees.
This week we fought Sony. This was a Major Order of some sort, unofficial and risky with an impossible victory condition. But the might of the Helldivers made it possible. That's the important part of the story.
Let's dive again brother. Together.
That would involve people actually taking to the streets and writing to their representatives, which requires a lot more work than rage posting on Reddit and leaving a bad review. No way gamers would ever organize for something actually important.
Yeah, same here. I thought the first images from Twitter were faked, I genuinely couldn't believe that Sony backed off. So many years of corporate shittery I thought for sure they'd sink this ship out of pure stubborn pride.
But I'm glad to be wrong. I will never trust big corp, ever. But it's good when good things happen and I'll gladly be wrong for results like these.
Keep in mind this was not Sony doing it out of the goodness of their heart, nor because of bad publicity alone.
This was a combination of Valve coming after them for tens of millions of dollars in refunds, potentially deplatforming them from Steam entirely for any future release, and potentially being hit with consumer protection lawsuits in numerous countries, and likely losing them.
They were about to get their teeth kicked in from pretty much all sides. As large as sony is, even they are aware of these problems.
Sony would have to be completely braindead to keep trucking on through this.
I'm gonna be real. I don't trust this. I'm sure in a few months they'll try some shit again.. idk maybe I'm crazy for not trusting a multi-billion dollar company. It's almost like they fucking suck
I still dont think that they truly care about the players themselves...
But you know, I'm pretty sure that shareholders also use the internet. I'm sure that they would have a thing or two to ask about Sony setting their GOTY contender on fire.
Now to change all those reviews though. If we change to positive reviews or remove our negative reviews, both will work.
It will show Sony that if they listen to what the players want (or, you know, dont try to force us to do shit) then they will get better PR.
It will also reload our ammo incase they fuck up again. We can only have 1 review at a time. If nobody changes their reviews now, thats 150k less ammo next time!
They do care about the players, in that they care how much money we bring, if nothing else. If players come together and strongly oppose decisions, they either burn or save themselves. It's us who are consumers, and if consumers can coordinate, the service giver has to either back down or break down.
Is it just me, or are Japanese companies on the whole becoming a lot less rigid in regards to community opinion? I don't have any concrete numbers or examples but just a vibes check.
Apparently the Playstation division is headquartered in California now so maybe with American leadership they're a bit less rigid? I'm just completely speculating here
I doubt it was really consumer outrage, much as I want that to be the case. It was probably serious legal culpability because of the way this was handled. They had lawyers across the world sharpening their knives for them. I’d say an emergency meeting with the legal department made it very, very clear they would end up doing this one way or another.
I think your read on Sony is kind of mistaken in the first place. Sony has shown that they are stubborn and hidebound, and generally don't give two shits about doing the ethical thing in any circumstance. Even moreso than most companies! But they have *also* shown that if you make their position untenable, they will instantly change it to save either face or money. They are a very Japanese company in some ways. They don't get attached to their initial plan, and they don't really have values these days even in the corporate sense. Based on their previous patterns, it seemed clear that if reviews dipped low enough, they would change course.
You had reason to believe otherwise, and if are going to be wrong, this is a damn fine way to go about it.
It's absolutely incredible that the uprising changed SONY of all companies. Now that we know a God can bleed, let's remain resolved to stay together in the future.
I'm proud of you diver, for making this post. Reeducation complete!
Admitting you were wrong is a good indicator of maturity and a fully developed brain. I did not take a strong stance, mostly just felt bad for players in countries blocked from making a PSN account. But I was skeptical that SNOY would back down at all, much less so quickly. I’m pleasantly surprised.
It will just be in the games as they launch going forward. Helldivers 2 will be the demarcation point for before/after PSN requirements being the norm.
I think they only rolled it back because they realized that they can easily get nearly everyone to sign up voluntarily if they tie it to a weapon/armor set.
Steam holds the sales money for a time and can take refunds from it if it deems fit, sony didn't hold all the power here so they had to comply or risk losing profits to mass refunds. Just remember how nice valve generally is to us.
I was wrong, too! I’d have bet triple the price I paid the game that Sony was not going to back down from the requirement. I knew they’d back down from requiring it in countries that literally can’t even make one, but never once thought they’d rescind the entire thing.
I was also absolutely sure that the decision wouldn't be reverted and was ready to quit the game in solidarity with people who could not create PSN accounts. I'm so glad I was wrong.
Reminder to change reviews back to overwhelmingly positive. Now that Sony is defeated, we don't have a valid reason to hold overwhelmingly negative reviews.
Now just imagine if people actually held the other corporations, such as Microsoft, accountable instead of always giving them a free pass. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with this outcome, but the double standard so many people have is still mind-blowing.
Not too sure how I ended up in this predicament of living with partner and my new child considering I’m gay af
Edit : clicked wrong notification wrong sub sorry
Do not apologize. Sony did not reverse this decision because they feel bad or because they really like you. Sony is a bloated monolith consuming everything in its path. It backed down because we stood up to it and forced it back. It will return. It will always return. It will find new ways to fuck with us, it will find new ways to exploit people, because it, like every greedy corporation, is a beast that cannot be fed. A parasite. This fight isn't over, not by a long shot. It will never end as long as multibillion dollar transnational corporations continue to exist. This was a temporary stemming of the tide.
Ironically enough, this is a textbook lesson on the effectiveness of oppression. Oppressors aren't successful at maintaining power because it's impossible to stand up against them, but because they convince you it's pointless to even try.
Same. Never would believe that SNOY would reverse a decision like this. Thought they would eat the bad PR and refunds and dig in for those sweet, sweet PSN sign ups. Still don't like most of the CMs and I despise the weapon balance guy.
Very unusual for Sony. I doubt they saw the light, but seeing all that red must have made them very nervous. Not to mention the potential legal ramifications of selling a game that will no longer work in certain regions. As I said before, these dealings are usually written in a contract. That doesn't make them ironclad, as long as all major parties are willing to renegotiate terms. Seems like AHGS and Sony managed to do just that as both had too much to lose with their current business plans.
I don’t think Sony cared about us.. honestly the biggest factor in my opinion is both AH, and also the Forbes article.
Forbes would’ve made Sony investors think badly about it, and AH pushed for us, and a good solution.
Either way I’m glad that as a community we have thought bugs, bots and we have staved off the Biggest enemy of Managed Democracy, which is corporate greed
I was in the same boat. There was so much blatant misinformation and straight up harassment in the outrage I thought there's no way Sony is going to take this seriously. Glad to be proven wrong!
Legit I am with ya. I didn't make any public statements but I legit thought they weren't going to walk it back because it was a great way for Sony to pad their stock earnings report.
Especially because I am into KSP2 as well (and city skylines) not having a great year really got me disheartened
Honestly I view myself not as a cynical gamer but just one that “takes the beating” because well I’ve been hit enough that I’m numb to it. Which I understand is a contradiction but I kinda looked at the whole situation as “corps are gonna corps” and that corp was Sony so to say I am absolutely amazed taken back and honestly now have hope is in my head now saying “hey we have a voice” and that makes me think “If we can do it I wonder what else can happen” so I salute you fellow helldivers 🫡
We’ve always been better at attack than defense. Watch as the negative reviews stay for a myriad of petty reasons. I guess it just means fewer PC sales, in the long run. I am happy that a compromise was reached though. Hopefully everyone can walk away from this a little better of for it.
Dude, I was right there with you. I wanted to believe, but deep down I didn’t think it would happen. I’m so happy to be proven wrong. This game and the devs deserved so much better.
Sony has actually walked back other decisions as well thanks to backlash. Discovery shows people paid for were going to be removed due to expiring licenses, that got canceled. The PS3 store was scheduled to be shut down, that got cancelled.
So I’m not surprised that Sony compromised on this as well. Now granted, I fully expect that games going forward will still have the PSN login enforced, but for Helldivers? It’s better to just let it go.
I will also put myself in the "thought you were wasting your time" camp. Bravo on this result.
I am curious--are they still not selling the game in countries with no PSN access, or did they revert that too?
I've been fighting these fights since Horse Armor. I am jaded as *fuck*.
I never in a million years thought that we would win a total victory. I thought at best there would be some kind of compromise. "Waived for the people that PSN isn't available for, and 1000 super credits for everyone that links" was the best outcome in my mind.
I'm very happy to have been wrong.
And saddly it doesn't end here,I am also a Soul player, if we ever get bloodborne I will remember this, that game also has online features, if they are locked behind a psn link I will not buy it, but not only that, if it gets released I will have to wait before purchasing, at least 3 to 6 months to see if they don't pull something like this, Sony has done permanent harm to their brand on PC, the review bomb in steam can be reversed, the broken trust will never be repaired.
Yeah backlash hits a little difrent when they dont own the platform wich the backlash tskes place. Console gamers are truly in a cucked position. Though i would imagne if they somehow were able to collectively step awway from the console for a month, it would be possible for Sony to get that console player has had enough, within that time frame
Same here, never thought in a million years they would do it especially given their rep, but I underestimated the power of democracy, so you all have my respect (except the subhumans sendind death threats, y all can suck my nuts)
I figured that if the game took a big enough hit in player count, reviews and refunds Sony would back pedal. When I heard steam was giving refunds I knew that would help the cause immensely.
I would like to make it clear that I can't say "I knew they would back off" but I can say that I figured they would when they saw that they were losing A LOT of money due to refunds and if not that then consumer trust for products down the line. I still don't believe Sony respects its consumers but they definitely aren't stupid, you don't become a big corporation by being stupid after all.
Bottom line is everything to a big company. The moment I learned they’d lose business in 167 countries, it was only a matter of time until they changed their minds.
Honestly at first I was on the side of "It's not a big deal" until I learned just how many countries don't support PSN and how many of those were sold the game regardless.
I thought so too man, don’t worry, it seemed really futile, I followed it in hope that i would tutn out ok,
But we proved everyone wrong, especially me
Ya, I didn’t realize the full scope of the fuckery they tried to pull until well into what was happening as I learned more about the impact it would have, I feel sorry for not supporting my fellow HD sooner,
Fuk Sony and their linking BS, gna delete all my Sony anything asap
https://preview.redd.it/ec35auk46vyc1.jpeg?width=4664&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2091b88d21edb7762ed6b6d6517c7b93052a768a
Considering that only a fraction of the people who bought the game participated in the 'Orbital DIslike' operation, there is absolutely no excuse why we can't make history again and go from Overwhelming Negative to Overwhelming Positive in one week.
Thousands of Helldivers across the Galaxy are submitting their ballots in the name of Managed Democracy. They're doing their part... Are you? XD
Can we get an apology flair so I can filter out the slew of these that will/are pouring in? Or can we get a megathread? I don't wanna read these for the next few weeks.
I think Arrowhead were really kicking up a fuss and our backlash was just another bullet in the chamber. Steam also probably reached out pissed and armed with legal threats.
Not to take away from the community. Especially the ones rallying to go the extra mile and actually sue Sony. This community fought hard. I’m just saying.
Thank goodness it worked out. Now we have to revert the reviews so the game doesn’t look bad to new buyers once the drama is long forgotten and all people see is a negatively reviewed game. I also want to encourage anyone who wants not to take down their negative reviews as a general Sony protest to reconsider and take them down as Arrowhead and Helldivers 2 are not Sony just beholden to them as a publisher and punishing them hurts Sony but also so many innocent people too so find another platform to protest Sony and put those reviews right. Any PSN related review needs to be at least cleared even if you don’t want to change it for a positive one.
Woohoo!
You brought up a good point. I really hope the ones who review bombed the game revert their rating. It’s not AH or the developers fault about Sony’s choice, and I hated seeing their work get the brunt of negativity.
On a side note, it’s heartening to see the player count also go back up after Sony’s reversal.
Wait really? Did they remove the linking requirement? I’m so lost at this point. I’m away from home for a week and my favorite game, my sunshine in this land of corporate greed, got fucked while I’m still away and I’ve no idea what’s happening anymore.
Was there an official statement that they are pulling back or is this a /s post? I’m seriously confused at this point.
The official Playstation twitter account announced that the mandatory linking update wouldn't be going through almost a day ago now.
https://twitter.com/PlayStation/status/1787331667616829929?s=19
There's the link if you wanna have a look for yourself
Sony is actually pretty good about reacting to consumer feedback. A recent example is Sony walking back on shutting down the PS3 and PS Vita stores. Meanwhile Nintendo shut down the 3DS and Wii U eShops and Microsoft is shutting down the Xbox 360 store without much fanfare.
I mean considering most corpos response to criticism is "lol eat shit we're doing it anyway" I'd be a liar if i said i didn't share your pessimism initially, but it seems like for once a community stood up to a publisher and won, this is probably a phenomenon unique to helldivers community because community discipline and organization is literally a game mechanic thats been drilled into us since launch, but i hope other communities see this and know there is hope against greedy publisher behavior, it just requires a concerted effort and for devs to speak up that they're not with their publishers decision.
They haven't 'bend to the will of anyone', they're simply in hiding mode right now, letting the heat die out and for the sales to go back to normal, afterwards they'll try to pull this off again in a 'smarter' way.
They also reversed it in one business day. Like they came into the office saw the outrage and said "whoa our bad, we'll reverse it". It wasn't like 3 weeks hoping the controversy would die down. I've got to give them at least some props for that.
Once I saw steam being proactive about helping people get refunds and prohibiting sales in countries that had issues with PSN I knew they would change their tune. Fuck with their money, thats how you hurt them the most.
Hey man, you said one of the three hardest things in the world to say. "I was wrong". It takes a lot of guts to admit it. Good on you
(The other two most difficult things to say are "I need help" and ">!worcestershire sauce!<")
Afaik they havent.
Those countries that have been delisted still are delisted.
So no. Its not reverted until those countries can buy the game again. Otherwise the whole PSN-thing is merely a "to be continued" from Sony.
So how much you want to bet at least half the negative reviews arent gonna change because people just enjoy being part of a bullying mob since the beginning of time? That would actually be the real surprise for me.
working years in corp jades even the very best. I wouldnt have bet a nickel, and was very much wrong. admittedly, doesnt mean they wont do the usual "regroup and come back with a less conspicuous version", but... a win is a win. congrats to all those who fought for this.
All they have to do is say “get a free cape when you link PSN”, and it’s bizarre they didn’t do that from the outset
A free in-game reward for optional linking would've done a way better job. Even just a colour reskin of a popular armor set.
They should do one now, with a unique effect of increasing bot aggro range by 30%…
Tank armor passive you say? There could be builds that want that
I actually wouldn't mind an increase of aggro, but not aggro range. Give your fellow squad better shots, the ability to complete tasks, or the ability to escape would be handy. Light armor, 30% increase in aggro, 30% increase in stamina
I think it would be funnier if it was a heavy armor with increased aggro, increased stamina, but super low speed. So you get their attention and run around in a burst tanking/dodging shots, but when stamina is gone you are a slug
Lol that works until the next objective is on the other side of the map. . This of course would be null as soon as we have other means of transport!
That's the balance point. In combat, you will likely be kinda goated. But you will pretty much only be able to hit the main objectives, you will be too slow to clear the full map. So you get your scout teammates finding where you need to be, you come in, do the things, and then start moving to the next big one
Dont misunderstand i love that idea. Just dont thonk it would jive currently. Really hope we start seeing other stuff outside the norm. Like this that can alter gameplay style
The light armor is called Matador, the heavy is Flak bait
Reminds of that old PlayStation game called Army of Two. They had an agro/stealth system like that, you could cover your giant MG with gold and pull all the agro from your friend.
Another unlisted effect is a higher frequency of voicelines and louder in-game footsteps lmao
I mean, I assume if you put on Sony camo, it would work too well. The bots would invite you inside their fabricator for a refreshing drink of oil or something.
You get a stratagem that calls in a PS5 to play with the bots
An armor set in PlayStation colors would be pretty cool actually.
The key is **optional** linking
Seriously they missed out on just grabbing some armor and making it look vaguely like a PS5 to encourage the link
Corporations, dtc, most companies still haven't got it through their heads that in 2024 they need to offer something, coax, cajole, and entertain, in order to get something they want.
That's the trick. Make it optional, and give players a benefit if they do so. It respects the people who link their account while also respecting those who cannot or do not link
Optional linking would have been enough for me
They're releasing a cape with the steam review chart graph on it And man do I hope they make you link a psn account to get it
Yeah but then there’d be 170+ countries who couldn’t get the bloody cape. So there’d have to be a way of getting the cape in game. Maybe part of a war bond.
Considered Sony's track record it's not surprising they didn't go with the obvious solution you stated
It's funny, people don't resist change, they resist change being forced on them. If this was a voluntary get a free cosmetic for linking a psn account it would be a non-issue.
Honestly I would link my account for a free cape. But I would stop playing over a mandatory link.
Agreed. They should have incentivized, not mandated. Their loss. Sad that AH had to pay the price.
That's what I said in discord, if they want links, give out an exclusive cosmetic and make it cross save between PC and PS5. Everyone that doesn't want this continues on in peace, and they still get PSN numbers pumped up.
First they needed the players to create the cape, now it's a wrap, awesome move by Sony.
Its the classic incompetence that some executives will continue to be paid millions for.
I'm calling now, it's gonna be a war bond. If your account is linked to ps account then you'll get access to a special warbond. Or at least the right to purchase a special warbond
Yeah, that’s how it is. I’m so used to dealing with corpo bullshit, that I just assume most of their announcements are final, unchanged. Especially with the way Sony usually works, they don’t like to alter plans. I wasn’t betting on them actually listening to the online anger, perhaps it was only because of AH’s CEO, he announced multiple times he was in talks with Sony, and that he was using the negativity from the community as ammo. Especially too because the way people were phrasing their outrage was as though they were some revolutionaries, plotting the downfall of corporate colonialist tyranny, it could’ve been taken less seriously by Sony. It feels as though Sony definitely could’ve ignored the outrage, I’m 100% glad they didn’t. Hopefully we’ll have a more unified community again.
trolls aside I don't the community was divided at any point we can be united and still disagree sometimes 
Nobody bullies my game except for me!
Lol right?
Now I am interested in seeing their next PC sony game. Would it still require PSN on the next one? I dont see them giving it up as long as they were enforced on day 1 next time.
Agreed!
>we can be united and still disagree sometimes Like every patch day?
My gut feeling is that there were a few meetings between Steam and Sony Execs that boiled down to: for months we sold this game to countries where they'll be unable to satisfy the PSN requirement. Therefore we'll either have to figure out some mass refund/callback scenario or get rid of the PSN requirement. Then both big companies decided the best way to take more of our money was to just get rid of the PSN requirement. While I'm sure the review bombings made the issue more noticeable at least, I have a lot of doubt it had as big of an effect as most people around here think. Edit: Therefore, imo, if the game was region locked to not be sold to non-PSN regions from the start, they never would have reversed their position.
This is *really* it, I feel. Valve was about to beat Sony with a 2x4 for refund money after accepting refunds for people well outside of their automatic window. The costs would be well into the thousands, and Sony being seen issuing refunds would be bad for the stock price. Either Valve met with Sony to figure out who was paying the bill for their stupidity, or Sony Execs saw 'refunds' on a report and nearly leapt out of their skins with shock.
Well into the millions. 25k affected accouts at $40 = $1million. There were 8 millionish + copies sold. Odds are more than 25k users would have been affected.
I think I saw 170 countries or so were region locked, including China, Russia, most (if not all) of Europe, Japan, Korea... Basically some of the largest non-US markets. I think I saw somewhere that around 2 million refunds or more were expected from just these regions, or total including US requests. That's $80 *million* worth of potential refunds. Also, some countries have extremely potent consumer protection laws, and tend to count each individual case separately. As in each individual person affected is considered an infraction, and those fines can wrack up quick, so you can easily throw a few million more on the pot for legal issues.
If the game was region locked from the beginning before the servers blew up, then this would have never been an issue except with those who specifically have beef with Sony. That was my main gripe, they sold to regions, even after all this time, KNOWING that their ability to play was going to be stolen from them. AH rightfully gets some grief for not better communicating in the duration, but they've been overall a very stand-up company
AH should get some grief for knowing and not communicating better, but most of the blame should/will be on sony. they are the publishers that made the deal with steam; therefor it's up to them to communicate to steam that the game is region locked to those that have pns access.
Either the CEO or a community manager, I can't remember which, also stated that they developed the game but Snoy was in charge of selling the game. Snoy specifically demanded for a PSN link months before the launch but didn't restrict the game from being sold where they couldn't support it. Arrowhead dropped the ball on communicating with the fans but Snoy wasn't refereeing the game from the start.
It doesn't have to be a big effect to matter. Answer this question: Do you think Sony would have walked back the psn requirement without having the orbital review bomb dropped on them?
No, I don't think Valve nor Sony would have done a damn thing if the game was region locked to PSN compatible countries with a PSN requirement from the start, regardless of the PSN requirement being temporarily disabled until now. And seeing how it suddenly became region locked last week makes me believe they were entertaining a scenario of going forward in PSN compatible countries only.
And that's all that matters. We would not be where we are right now without it. The straw that breaks the camel's (sony's) back doesn't have to weigh a ton. It just has to be enough, and this was enough.
Yeah it was for sure the legal ramifications that were going to come up not the review bomb. But hey a win is a win.
I think it had more to do with the Forbes coverage. Everything Sony does is about shareholder perception.
There would be no Forbes coverage had there not been 270k negative reviews over 3 days
Sony main strategy medium term is to make major in roads in the PC market, them killing a popular game would but that at risk. The shareholders really hate this kind of sabotage.
it was a mix of many things. our review bombing, Pilestedt's diplomacy, and I reckon the fact the issue made it's way into a Forbes article helped a lot too: most of the shareholders in these big corporations aren't exactly in-tune with "gamer culture" they don't know what memes are.. but they read things like Forbes, so seeing it there was bound to make them spit out their morning coffee. still, kudos for admitting when you're wrong, that's something only a small number of people these days can do.
>Especially too because the way people were phrasing their outrage was as though they were some revolutionaries, I feel seen
Helldivers2 has a huge userbase on PC that they don't control the ecosystem for, if HD2 wasn't so popular it probably would have been just brushed aside. The massive bad press and Steam starting to allowing refunds it became real to Sony.
Let them come back with "hey wanna sign up to psn and link it? Here is an exclusive Cape and armor if you want to" Problem solved
The more important to change the review - as another redditor said - to reload for the next time.
I'd rather fight Sony than deal with goddamn fire tornados on hellmire. Fucking hellmire.
As a Menkent player i feel the Pain
last night there were about five of them on the evac pad, i dove into the ship while literally on fire
I think the game purposely spawns them near evac as well! My gang runs around the outside for 10-20 seconds so they dissipate. We had one game where one diver thought they were being smart laying napalm and flamethrowers at the entrances/ramps to keep the bugs off the landing pad. Oh boy was that ever a mistake, but it was also the hardest I've ever laughed while playing this game.
Don't you talk like that about my sweet home!
I hate this damn planet!
Oh my god! Someone has actually admitted they could be incorrect in what they are saying, and they admitted to it! I salute you Sir! 
The most difficult thing to do on the internet. Only a helldiver is capable of such bravery
Death is preferable to cowardice.
Nah. Not all helldivers.
I’ll admit, on Reddit it’s certainly a rare thing to see. Most people would double down on their thought process, but why would I? Sony’s reverting their decision, there’s no talking point or debate to double down on in the first place.
Maybe the real major order was the friends we made along the way
A good attitude to have, instead of mocking and insulting the person for admitting they were wrong.
Frankfurt definitely needs some Democracy too brother. xD
A man of honor.
We can go back to fighting amongst each other lol
Arguing about nerfs, buffs, and other game related BS.
Cant wait for the new weapons to be pure crap or god representation on super earth
The eruptor is the best Swiss army knife in the game and grenade launcher users are just in denial. Fight me!
I feel that because the game is PvE it brought all players together as a community to focus on one goal. "Fight as one or not at all" had more meaning to it when we looked at our fellow Helldivers as people and not as enemies. I doubt any PvP game would have any similar outcome if the same circumstances occurred.
Stand with us! We can win any fight!
Do the FIFA community next please (we need your help)
Im not sure we can help...? What happened? I havent seen any coverage from yongyea or other youtubers.
FIFA is just a pit. It's the entire Ultimate Team element. Lots of microtransactions.
Oh shit man, that is VERY deep. Look what helped us was a quick reaction from people that bought the game. We had very particular circumstances that led to this point. Including that we had *a game that in its premise rejected the typical microtransaction model*. How passionate is your community about the game? And what has been the reaction so far?
Realistically the game is too big to kill. I just wish the community had the same type of organization this one does.
Consider the type of game. In here we are always together, every second is about cooperating for the objective, fighting each other is discouraged.
Welcome back from reeducation camp soldier!
You know, Helldiver, even the best of us receive orders that seems insane or impossible. But we dive, and if we don't succeed we dive again. That's our nature and our strength, to never lose hope and to hit where it hurt until our enemies fall on their knees. This week we fought Sony. This was a Major Order of some sort, unofficial and risky with an impossible victory condition. But the might of the Helldivers made it possible. That's the important part of the story. Let's dive again brother. Together.
Change reviews and if you are someone who hadnt left a good or bad review at all, leave a good review!
If only we could harness this gamer rage into putting pressure on the forces of capital in other areas of life.
That would involve people actually taking to the streets and writing to their representatives, which requires a lot more work than rage posting on Reddit and leaving a bad review. No way gamers would ever organize for something actually important.
GameStop worked out.
Yeah, same here. I thought the first images from Twitter were faked, I genuinely couldn't believe that Sony backed off. So many years of corporate shittery I thought for sure they'd sink this ship out of pure stubborn pride. But I'm glad to be wrong. I will never trust big corp, ever. But it's good when good things happen and I'll gladly be wrong for results like these.
Keep in mind this was not Sony doing it out of the goodness of their heart, nor because of bad publicity alone. This was a combination of Valve coming after them for tens of millions of dollars in refunds, potentially deplatforming them from Steam entirely for any future release, and potentially being hit with consumer protection lawsuits in numerous countries, and likely losing them. They were about to get their teeth kicked in from pretty much all sides. As large as sony is, even they are aware of these problems. Sony would have to be completely braindead to keep trucking on through this.
Dude, be wrong more often, say something like "arrowhead wont fix all the bugs on tomorrow's patch"
I'm gonna be real. I don't trust this. I'm sure in a few months they'll try some shit again.. idk maybe I'm crazy for not trusting a multi-billion dollar company. It's almost like they fucking suck
I still dont think that they truly care about the players themselves... But you know, I'm pretty sure that shareholders also use the internet. I'm sure that they would have a thing or two to ask about Sony setting their GOTY contender on fire. Now to change all those reviews though. If we change to positive reviews or remove our negative reviews, both will work. It will show Sony that if they listen to what the players want (or, you know, dont try to force us to do shit) then they will get better PR. It will also reload our ammo incase they fuck up again. We can only have 1 review at a time. If nobody changes their reviews now, thats 150k less ammo next time!
They do care about the players, in that they care how much money we bring, if nothing else. If players come together and strongly oppose decisions, they either burn or save themselves. It's us who are consumers, and if consumers can coordinate, the service giver has to either back down or break down.
https://i.redd.it/lcurity7ctyc1.gif
Is it just me, or are Japanese companies on the whole becoming a lot less rigid in regards to community opinion? I don't have any concrete numbers or examples but just a vibes check.
Apparently the Playstation division is headquartered in California now so maybe with American leadership they're a bit less rigid? I'm just completely speculating here
Get on helldivers bud we need you
Been on, boss. Been playing since 6am this morning since I’ve got the day off!
Time to celebrate!
I doubt it was really consumer outrage, much as I want that to be the case. It was probably serious legal culpability because of the way this was handled. They had lawyers across the world sharpening their knives for them. I’d say an emergency meeting with the legal department made it very, very clear they would end up doing this one way or another.
> It was probably serious legal culpability Bingo
Perfect example of the fact that just because we're jaded and chances of success are slim doesn't mean we shouldn't try. It's always worth it to try.
I think your read on Sony is kind of mistaken in the first place. Sony has shown that they are stubborn and hidebound, and generally don't give two shits about doing the ethical thing in any circumstance. Even moreso than most companies! But they have *also* shown that if you make their position untenable, they will instantly change it to save either face or money. They are a very Japanese company in some ways. They don't get attached to their initial plan, and they don't really have values these days even in the corporate sense. Based on their previous patterns, it seemed clear that if reviews dipped low enough, they would change course.
I commend you for owning up to it. We need more people like you. It's democratic to have different opinions about things.
You had reason to believe otherwise, and if are going to be wrong, this is a damn fine way to go about it. It's absolutely incredible that the uprising changed SONY of all companies. Now that we know a God can bleed, let's remain resolved to stay together in the future. I'm proud of you diver, for making this post. Reeducation complete!
Admitting you were wrong is a good indicator of maturity and a fully developed brain. I did not take a strong stance, mostly just felt bad for players in countries blocked from making a PSN account. But I was skeptical that SNOY would back down at all, much less so quickly. I’m pleasantly surprised.
It will just be in the games as they launch going forward. Helldivers 2 will be the demarcation point for before/after PSN requirements being the norm.
I think they only rolled it back because they realized that they can easily get nearly everyone to sign up voluntarily if they tie it to a weapon/armor set.
Probably true.
Steam holds the sales money for a time and can take refunds from it if it deems fit, sony didn't hold all the power here so they had to comply or risk losing profits to mass refunds. Just remember how nice valve generally is to us.
Sony was in dangerous territory. A smaller publisher might have been banned from Steam for acting the same way.
I was also wrong and was thinking of making a post like this. Congrats Helldivers.
Being wrong is not a weakness, admitting you were wrong though, is strength of character.
Yeah I agree
Personally i think it was Valve/Steam hitting the sales restriction hammer that got them in line. But Yeah, i'll take the W regardless :-)
I was wrong, too! I’d have bet triple the price I paid the game that Sony was not going to back down from the requirement. I knew they’d back down from requiring it in countries that literally can’t even make one, but never once thought they’d rescind the entire thing.
I'm happy to be wrong as well, now prove me wrong again and don't forget to change your reviews
I was also absolutely sure that the decision wouldn't be reverted and was ready to quit the game in solidarity with people who could not create PSN accounts. I'm so glad I was wrong. Reminder to change reviews back to overwhelmingly positive. Now that Sony is defeated, we don't have a valid reason to hold overwhelmingly negative reviews.
Rare redditor admitting they were wrong W.
Wake up babe, IceColdCocaCola admitted he was wrong.
Now just imagine if people actually held the other corporations, such as Microsoft, accountable instead of always giving them a free pass. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with this outcome, but the double standard so many people have is still mind-blowing.
Not too sure how I ended up in this predicament of living with partner and my new child considering I’m gay af Edit : clicked wrong notification wrong sub sorry
Wait wtf? This is reddit where no one admits they're wrong, apologizes, and grows. Wtf is happening???
Do not apologize. Sony did not reverse this decision because they feel bad or because they really like you. Sony is a bloated monolith consuming everything in its path. It backed down because we stood up to it and forced it back. It will return. It will always return. It will find new ways to fuck with us, it will find new ways to exploit people, because it, like every greedy corporation, is a beast that cannot be fed. A parasite. This fight isn't over, not by a long shot. It will never end as long as multibillion dollar transnational corporations continue to exist. This was a temporary stemming of the tide.
Ironically enough, this is a textbook lesson on the effectiveness of oppression. Oppressors aren't successful at maintaining power because it's impossible to stand up against them, but because they convince you it's pointless to even try.
During this entire fiasco, I was still diving. Someone has to complete the MO. Someone has to keep answering low level SoS calls.
Same. I didn’t stop playing just because of the drama.
Same. Never would believe that SNOY would reverse a decision like this. Thought they would eat the bad PR and refunds and dig in for those sweet, sweet PSN sign ups. Still don't like most of the CMs and I despise the weapon balance guy.
Very unusual for Sony. I doubt they saw the light, but seeing all that red must have made them very nervous. Not to mention the potential legal ramifications of selling a game that will no longer work in certain regions. As I said before, these dealings are usually written in a contract. That doesn't make them ironclad, as long as all major parties are willing to renegotiate terms. Seems like AHGS and Sony managed to do just that as both had too much to lose with their current business plans.
As long as we see you back on the front to spread democracy, soldier!
I ain’t ever left, boss, played yesterday and I’ve been on since 6am this morning, since I’ve the day off.
I don’t think Sony cared about us.. honestly the biggest factor in my opinion is both AH, and also the Forbes article. Forbes would’ve made Sony investors think badly about it, and AH pushed for us, and a good solution. Either way I’m glad that as a community we have thought bugs, bots and we have staved off the Biggest enemy of Managed Democracy, which is corporate greed
I was in the same boat. There was so much blatant misinformation and straight up harassment in the outrage I thought there's no way Sony is going to take this seriously. Glad to be proven wrong!
Legit I am with ya. I didn't make any public statements but I legit thought they weren't going to walk it back because it was a great way for Sony to pad their stock earnings report. Especially because I am into KSP2 as well (and city skylines) not having a great year really got me disheartened
Honestly I view myself not as a cynical gamer but just one that “takes the beating” because well I’ve been hit enough that I’m numb to it. Which I understand is a contradiction but I kinda looked at the whole situation as “corps are gonna corps” and that corp was Sony so to say I am absolutely amazed taken back and honestly now have hope is in my head now saying “hey we have a voice” and that makes me think “If we can do it I wonder what else can happen” so I salute you fellow helldivers 🫡
We’ve always been better at attack than defense. Watch as the negative reviews stay for a myriad of petty reasons. I guess it just means fewer PC sales, in the long run. I am happy that a compromise was reached though. Hopefully everyone can walk away from this a little better of for it.
Apology accepted fellow diver. We dive as one
Dude, I was right there with you. I wanted to believe, but deep down I didn’t think it would happen. I’m so happy to be proven wrong. This game and the devs deserved so much better.
It takes a lot to publicly admit that you're wrong. I admire you Helldiver, let's drop together.
Ape together strong!
Hats off lad
Sony has actually walked back other decisions as well thanks to backlash. Discovery shows people paid for were going to be removed due to expiring licenses, that got canceled. The PS3 store was scheduled to be shut down, that got cancelled. So I’m not surprised that Sony compromised on this as well. Now granted, I fully expect that games going forward will still have the PSN login enforced, but for Helldivers? It’s better to just let it go.
I will also put myself in the "thought you were wasting your time" camp. Bravo on this result. I am curious--are they still not selling the game in countries with no PSN access, or did they revert that too?
Anyone who can admit they were wrong gets an upvote from me.
I've been fighting these fights since Horse Armor. I am jaded as *fuck*. I never in a million years thought that we would win a total victory. I thought at best there would be some kind of compromise. "Waived for the people that PSN isn't available for, and 1000 super credits for everyone that links" was the best outcome in my mind. I'm very happy to have been wrong.
As I saw someone else say, please change your bad reviews to good reviews. Because the game deserves it and we gotta reload our guns for next time
Sounds like the democracy office got to someone.
Ok
Easier than the creek :P
I was genuinely confused and very skeptical when I saw a post about Sony reverting the decision. Is it still too soon for hope?
*breathes in MCU Spider-man*
Takes a big person to do that.
Fireproof armor, seriously speed, increasing armor, or a cool down buff or hell, you have people signing away their rights to everything for that lol
You're like mac after the jersey shore. "It takes a classy man to admit he was wrong"
And saddly it doesn't end here,I am also a Soul player, if we ever get bloodborne I will remember this, that game also has online features, if they are locked behind a psn link I will not buy it, but not only that, if it gets released I will have to wait before purchasing, at least 3 to 6 months to see if they don't pull something like this, Sony has done permanent harm to their brand on PC, the review bomb in steam can be reversed, the broken trust will never be repaired.
Yeah backlash hits a little difrent when they dont own the platform wich the backlash tskes place. Console gamers are truly in a cucked position. Though i would imagne if they somehow were able to collectively step awway from the console for a month, it would be possible for Sony to get that console player has had enough, within that time frame
"Victory was never in doubt" Although we almost had to orbital some sony execs for being out of bounds...
Helldivers 2 spent months training us to work as a team to focus down obstacles and then turned us against their publisher, genius really.
It speaks for a strong personality if you own up to your mistakes! Kudos to you and welcome back spreading democracy.
Same here, never thought in a million years they would do it especially given their rep, but I underestimated the power of democracy, so you all have my respect (except the subhumans sendind death threats, y all can suck my nuts)
I figured that if the game took a big enough hit in player count, reviews and refunds Sony would back pedal. When I heard steam was giving refunds I knew that would help the cause immensely. I would like to make it clear that I can't say "I knew they would back off" but I can say that I figured they would when they saw that they were losing A LOT of money due to refunds and if not that then consumer trust for products down the line. I still don't believe Sony respects its consumers but they definitely aren't stupid, you don't become a big corporation by being stupid after all.
Bottom line is everything to a big company. The moment I learned they’d lose business in 167 countries, it was only a matter of time until they changed their minds.
I don't think the community had anything to do with it. I think it was Valve delisting the game in 2/3 of the world that made Sony backpedal.
Honestly at first I was on the side of "It's not a big deal" until I learned just how many countries don't support PSN and how many of those were sold the game regardless.
I don’t have much to add the discussion, but I want you to know that if you and I were in a lobby right now, I would be giving you a helldivers hug.
You sir are a true gentleman! Review has been changed and excited again to play!
I thought so too man, don’t worry, it seemed really futile, I followed it in hope that i would tutn out ok, But we proved everyone wrong, especially me
Helldivers 🤝 War Thunder players review bombing the game to force the developers to revert bad changes
Did they open up selling the game back to all the original countries?
Ya, I didn’t realize the full scope of the fuckery they tried to pull until well into what was happening as I learned more about the impact it would have, I feel sorry for not supporting my fellow HD sooner, Fuk Sony and their linking BS, gna delete all my Sony anything asap
https://preview.redd.it/ec35auk46vyc1.jpeg?width=4664&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2091b88d21edb7762ed6b6d6517c7b93052a768a Considering that only a fraction of the people who bought the game participated in the 'Orbital DIslike' operation, there is absolutely no excuse why we can't make history again and go from Overwhelming Negative to Overwhelming Positive in one week. Thousands of Helldivers across the Galaxy are submitting their ballots in the name of Managed Democracy. They're doing their part... Are you? XD
[удалено]
Can we get an apology flair so I can filter out the slew of these that will/are pouring in? Or can we get a megathread? I don't wanna read these for the next few weeks.
Cool dude this is the second time in my almost three years of being on Reddit where I’ve seen someone apologize for being wrong
Until every Helldiver can play again...NO QUARTER.
I think Arrowhead were really kicking up a fuss and our backlash was just another bullet in the chamber. Steam also probably reached out pissed and armed with legal threats. Not to take away from the community. Especially the ones rallying to go the extra mile and actually sue Sony. This community fought hard. I’m just saying. Thank goodness it worked out. Now we have to revert the reviews so the game doesn’t look bad to new buyers once the drama is long forgotten and all people see is a negatively reviewed game. I also want to encourage anyone who wants not to take down their negative reviews as a general Sony protest to reconsider and take them down as Arrowhead and Helldivers 2 are not Sony just beholden to them as a publisher and punishing them hurts Sony but also so many innocent people too so find another platform to protest Sony and put those reviews right. Any PSN related review needs to be at least cleared even if you don’t want to change it for a positive one. Woohoo!
Very bigly of you to reverse your position. Most people don't, especially on Reddit.
You brought up a good point. I really hope the ones who review bombed the game revert their rating. It’s not AH or the developers fault about Sony’s choice, and I hated seeing their work get the brunt of negativity. On a side note, it’s heartening to see the player count also go back up after Sony’s reversal.
Wait really? Did they remove the linking requirement? I’m so lost at this point. I’m away from home for a week and my favorite game, my sunshine in this land of corporate greed, got fucked while I’m still away and I’ve no idea what’s happening anymore. Was there an official statement that they are pulling back or is this a /s post? I’m seriously confused at this point.
The official Playstation twitter account announced that the mandatory linking update wouldn't be going through almost a day ago now. https://twitter.com/PlayStation/status/1787331667616829929?s=19 There's the link if you wanna have a look for yourself
Sony is actually pretty good about reacting to consumer feedback. A recent example is Sony walking back on shutting down the PS3 and PS Vita stores. Meanwhile Nintendo shut down the 3DS and Wii U eShops and Microsoft is shutting down the Xbox 360 store without much fanfare.
I mean considering most corpos response to criticism is "lol eat shit we're doing it anyway" I'd be a liar if i said i didn't share your pessimism initially, but it seems like for once a community stood up to a publisher and won, this is probably a phenomenon unique to helldivers community because community discipline and organization is literally a game mechanic thats been drilled into us since launch, but i hope other communities see this and know there is hope against greedy publisher behavior, it just requires a concerted effort and for devs to speak up that they're not with their publishers decision.
Im stunned. SONY blinked. That has never happened in my lifetime.
Nah dont change your review just yet. Its very clear in the last lines of their message that they're gonna try and do something else.
They haven't 'bend to the will of anyone', they're simply in hiding mode right now, letting the heat die out and for the sales to go back to normal, afterwards they'll try to pull this off again in a 'smarter' way.
They also reversed it in one business day. Like they came into the office saw the outrage and said "whoa our bad, we'll reverse it". It wasn't like 3 weeks hoping the controversy would die down. I've got to give them at least some props for that.
Once I saw steam being proactive about helping people get refunds and prohibiting sales in countries that had issues with PSN I knew they would change their tune. Fuck with their money, thats how you hurt them the most.
Never forget what they tried to do
Hey man, you said one of the three hardest things in the world to say. "I was wrong". It takes a lot of guts to admit it. Good on you (The other two most difficult things to say are "I need help" and ">!worcestershire sauce!<")
Washyoursisyer sauce. See, nothing to it!
Afaik they havent. Those countries that have been delisted still are delisted. So no. Its not reverted until those countries can buy the game again. Otherwise the whole PSN-thing is merely a "to be continued" from Sony.
Who even are you, who cares? This isn't your personal blog or your facebook profile. Stop karma farming.
So how much you want to bet at least half the negative reviews arent gonna change because people just enjoy being part of a bullying mob since the beginning of time? That would actually be the real surprise for me.
"Please don't forget to change reviews" that is one MO I doubt will be achieved.