The Helldivers 2 community goes to war, 09/05/2024
The bad review is mightier than the sword
How the Helldivers 2 community took on, and beat, Sony
Switch 2 to be announced before March 2024, sez Nintendo Prez
Animal Well leads a Slam Dunkey week of independent releases
Hello VGIM readers,
Thank you once again for tolerating the launch of Half-Space Consulting last week. I have had many lovely comments about it and have seen my availability in May vanish into thin air, so I appreciate all of you who snapped up my time in return for some cold hard cash.
I’m mostly bunkering down for the next couple of weeks as I get to grips with some thoroughly intriguing short term client work.
I will, however, be popping up at Barclays Games Frenzy next week to talk about the state of play in the UK industry AND to dish out some oversized novelty cheques on behalf of GamesAid to the causes it backed in the past year. Remember to register for free here.
And as ever, VGIM sponsorships are ready and available to snap up in the coming months. If you’d like to support the newsletter as it continues to grow, then make sure to get in touch here.
Enough of that - let’s get on with the show.
The big read - The Helldivers 2 community goes to war
“The officer who doesn’t know his communication and supply as well as his tactics loses.”
I think we can all agree that US Army General George S. Patton knew nothing about video games (in no small part because he died in 1945).
But I wonder whether Sony wishes it had heeded his lesson about understanding its lines of communication given what happened last weekend.
The company’s attempt to force the player base of Helldivers 2 to link the PC versions of their games to a PlayStation Network account came in for such immense criticism that it cancelled the roll out of the new policy barely 72 hours after it was first announced.
It was an embarrassing moment for Sony. Despite it being technically within its rights to make the change at a terms of service level, the company’s failure to understand the repercussions of the change for many PC players, alongside its challenges communicating the reasons for the change fairly, put it on the back foot.
But while this policy change was always likely to cause some disquiet amongst the community, Sony also didn’t account for an ironic, but important, truth.
Helldivers 2 has delighted in thrusting its player base into an intergalactic war, encouraging them to act and organise themselves as if they were part of a functioning mock military.
This helped build a remarkably tight knit community behind the game. But it also created the perfect foundation of culture and communication logistics to allow that community to launch a devastatingly effective pressure campaign against Sony’s policy change - landing it a famous win in the process.
Deep diving
Helldivers 2 is a proper bona fide hit video game. It’s been one of the top selling titles in the world this year, with well over 8 million people from around the world suiting up and diving into its intergalactic war to spread freedom since its launch in February 2024.
The game is an online squad based shooter where players drop onto planets to shoot bugs or robots to death (or annihilate them with a variety of weapons dropped from orbit) before legging it to a nearby airship to extract themselves to safety.
So far, so samey. But Helldivers 2’s secret sauce has been how it has used game mechanics and its developer led storytelling to craft itself a deliciously satirical Starship Troopers-esque narrative - encouraging its player base to act like a genuine military in the process.
The meta of the game - in essence, the layer of rules that sit above the core game mechanics - is guided by developer Arrowhead Interactive.
It acts as an indifferent high command, issuing “Major Orders” to encourage all of its players to ‘liberate’ (read: mercilessly conquer) planets to keep the Galactic War going in its favour.
And by making a series of design choices on top of this to make players feel utterly expendable, such as its tongue-in-cheek tone and its decision to allow friendly fire as a core game mechanic, Helldivers 2 has done what very few games do: encourage its players to think like expendable cannon fodder rather than heroes.
The result has been the creation of a ridiculously tight global community around the game rooted in a rank and file mindset.
The player base has completely leant into its jokey imperialist mission to “spread democracy” at all costs, but has compensated for the game’s often hilarious cruelty by creating an “all for one and one for all culture” that has brought players together as if they were rank and file on the frontline of the war.
In short, the launch of Helldivers 2 gave its developer and publisher what every games company dreams of: a thriving community for a live service multiplayer title that’s created a culture which actively helps to recruit players.
But it also raised a silent question: if you build a community with a tight knit “no person left behind” military mindset, then what happens if you end up picking a fight with it that threatens that philosophy?
The answer, it turns out, is that you won’t just receive kickback against your decision; you’ll accidentally activate a disciplined war machine capable of pushing back against your policy decision remarkably effectively.
Into policy hell
On the face of it, the trigger for last week’s drama seems small. On Friday 3rd May, Sony announced that all of Helldivers 2’s PC players would have to link their game up to a PSN account by 30th May or be locked out of the game.
Sony’s rationale was that it was imposing this for security and safety purposes. By linking the two together, it argued that it could more effectively police potential community issues such as griefing (when a player deliberately harasses someone else) more effectively.
However, the policy had two problems that encouraged the tightly knit Helldivers 2 community to take up digital arms. First, Sony’s communication of the policy change was poorly handled and antagonised the game’s player base
When Helldivers 2 launched, players technically agreed to link the PC version of the game to a PSN account when they purchased the game. This is evidenced by a light touch notice on the storefront that was notionally visible to players when they handed over their hard earned cash.
However, the policy wasn’t implemented at launch because of technical problems. This meant that Sony knew it would have to communicate its implementation carefully, given that introducing it would naturally be an inconvenience to players.
Unfortunately, they didn’t. In a written statement released on Friday 3rd May, the company implied that players had benefitted from a “grace period” in regards to the policy before setting off a countdown for compliance. This created a sense that Sony was punishing players for its own failure to implement the policy from launch, irritating the community in the process.
Second though, and much more importantly, the policy was problematic because PSN isn’t available in every country where PC players bought the game.
Steam is, to all intents and purposes, available in every country across the world. PlayStation Network, in comparison, is not available in 177 markets.
This presented PC players in those countries with an obvious problem. Either they would have to accept being locked out of the game from 30th May because they couldn’t create a PSN account at home. Or they would have to breach Sony’s terms of service by creating an account in a different territory, risking being banned from the game entirely anyway.
So yes, a policy change like this was always going to cause some controversy, as evidenced by PC Gamer’s strapline to its piece about the announcement which read “I’m sure this’ll go down smooth.”
But with this policy change colliding directly with Helldivers 2’s “no soldier left behind” culture, it maybe shouldn’t have been surprising that it came under such concerted attack from a community that felt like it threatened its core ethos.
Multiplayer campaigning
Great pressure campaigns tend to share a few common features: they have an achievable objective, they know where they need to apply pressure and they have the right infrastructure to ensure that the squeeze is applied to maximum effect.
The Helldivers 2 community campaign had all of those features. They had a clear goal in mind, which was to reverse the PSN link up policy. They had an obvious target for the campaign, which was decision makers at Sony - rather than Arrowhead Interactive - who could change course. And crucially, they had the mindset and the communications infrastructure of a mini military to allow them to effectively get their point across.
Within hours of the policy change being announced, the community sprung into action to protect players who were about to be booted from the game.
It repurposed the extensive network of overlapping community channels that had been set up to coordinate efforts to achieve tackle the game’s Major Orders to encourage players to take three actions to demonstrate their unhappiness: leave a negative review of the game, get a refund on Helldivers 2 if possible and spread the word about the campaign via social media. Each of these tactics were easy for a rank and file player to achieve, while also being reputationally and commercially damaging for Sony if delivered at scale.
And importantly, the campaign co-opted the language and iconography of the Helldivers Corps to get its point across. The community created messages and memes that redirected the shared language of the game towards encouraging all of the player base to act, on the basis that “we dive together or we don’t dive.” This captivated players and helped the story spread further, leading it to seep out into the wider media quickly after the revolt started.
Within 48 hours, the campaign was demonstrating enormous impact. Helldivers 2’s pristine user review score was obliterated practically overnight, dragged down by the weight of over two hundred thousand negative reviews. Steam, meanwhile, agreed to honour refunds from PC players who had significant playtime in the game on the basis that the policy change amounted to a material shift in how it operates - giving Sony a commercial headache in the process.
In an effort to stem criticism and plough forward with the policy, Sony took dramatic action. On the 5th May, just two days after announcing the linking policy, it delisted the game from Steam in the 177 nations that PSN doesn’t reach to try to head off the critics.
But rather than fix the situation, it deepened the crisis further. The decision put Sony at odds with the game’s developer, who were both uneasy about shutting off global players and who seemed to be in the dark about how it was making decisions. One of the game’s community managers even went rogue, endorsing the review bombing and refunding campaign on their personal channels as the best way to apply pressure.
The situation was fast becoming untenable. And just one day later, on the 6th May, Sony relented. The company announced via PlayStation’s social media account that the planned update was not going ahead, that it is still “learning what is best for PC players” and that it would keep players abreast of any future plans.
This meant that the Helldivers 2 community had won a stunning victory against Sony in just a matter of days - raising some fascinating questions in the process.
Bombing on
So what can we learn from the great war between the Helldivers 2 community and Sony? I think there’s a few things worth keeping in mind.
First of all, it’s an important reminder for all games businesses to remember that communication is as much about listening as it is about broadcasting.
Sony’s problems emanated from a policy problem that would always be tricky to overcome due to PSN’s geographic limitations. But it exacerbated the issue by failing to consult the player base about the change and by making it feel like a punishment - leading to rebellion.
Second, it’s a reminder that games communities do have remarkable digital campaigning power at their fingertips.
If power and influence is increasingly exercised through social media, the average video game fan base has genuine mobilising power if it chooses to exercise it.
And finally, it also shows us that game developers do have the ability to shape their communities in a way that can meaningfully change their behaviour.
The campaign to encourage Sony to ditch the PSN linking policy was almost entirely led by the player base. But the world, story and gameplay mechanics that Arrowhead Interactive wove into the fabric of Helldivers 2 created the conditions for the “faux army” to emerge - giving them the foundation to campaign.
This in turn raises questions of what groups like this could do with their power next. Cheerfully for now, the main objective appears to be thanking Sony for changing course by running “Operation Cleanup” - a community campaign to restore the game’s review scores to its previously excellent highs.
But while video games communities do have the power to mobilise effectively against billion dollar businesses for positive reasons, we do also have to be careful just in case the mini armies we’ve helped create get directed towards more problematic purposes.
News in brief
Switched on: Nintendo will announce the successor to the Switch in this fiscal year, according to the company’s president Shuntaro Furukawa. He batted away suggestions that it will be announced in the next Nintendo Direct in Summer but his comments means we will, at the latest, know what’s coming down the pipe (ha!) by March 2025 at the latest.
Won’t somebody please think of the children(‘s draft codes of practice): Ofcom, the UK’s online safety regulator, has published its draft Children’s Safety Codes of Practice up for consultation as it continues to prepare to make the Online Safety Act fully operational. It outlines 40 steps for user-to-user businesses to take to make their services safe for children, including implementing age verification and setting content moderation standards. Companies have until 17th July to respond to the consultation.
BFI-ght, fight, fight, fight: Paul Durrant, chief of the UK Games Fund, has criticised the BFI’s “tepid” approach to funding video games content through lottery money. While Durrant is positive about the members of the BFI team who are dedicated to working with the games industry (as he should be, given that they’re excellent), he believes that the organisation is “silent” on the opportunity of public value games and that it’s hiding its low ambition behind the lack of an evidence base.
Tango Lameworks: Microsoft has shuttered Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks as part of a hefty restructure at Bethesda. Arkane Austin, the makers of Redfall, and Alpha Dog Studios, the creators of the Mighty Doom mobile game, have also had the lights turned off - continuing the video games industry’s annus horribilis.
Flippin’ Hell: Hades 2 has doubled the all time player peak of the first release after being on the market for just 24 hours, according to Video Games Chronicle. The sequel to the multi-award winning title landed in Early Access on Steam earlier this week, with developer Supergiant Games
On the move
Matthew Bromberg is the new CEO at Unity and gets to work next week…Hannah Potter is the new Senior Account Manager at Games Industry Biz…And there’s been a trio of promotions at Ukie with Amii Oldham promoted to Senior Programme Manager, Digital Schoolhouse, Helen Johnson bumped to Senior Membership Account Officer and Sian Mayhall-Purvis now sporting the title of Senior Education Programme Officer…
Jobs, jobs, jobs
There’s an outstanding gig going at Avalanche Studios for a Head of Strategic Partnerships…The team at SEGA is looking for a Head of Brand Licensing to join the team in London…Coatsink wants a Brand Manager with at least three years of experience to join its team…Scopely is hiring a Senior Animator for an unannounced project…And Tencent is recruiting for a Senior Community Manager for anyone who fancies giving that a go after the big read…
Events and conferences
Digital Dragons, Krakow - 19th-21st May
GamesBeat Summit, Los Angeles - 20th-21st May
Nordic Game, Malmo - 21st-24th May
Summer Games Fest, Los Angeles - 8th June
Games of the week
Animal Well - Be an animal in a well in the first game published by Video Game Dunkey’s publishing house.
Crow Country - Be a Crow (note: not an animal on this occasion) in a survival horror world in this puzzle solving game from the team behind Tangle Tower.
Prison Architect 2 - Shape up a slammer in this sequel to a the original chokey creation game
Before you go…
Nathan Owolabi was hired by Bromley FC as a Support Performance Tactician as part of a campaign by Xbox and Football Manager to find out what happens if you pop a video games fan into the world of professional sport.
And the answer, it seems, is that it can go pretty darn well. Owolabi played his own small part in helping Bromley secure its first ever promotion to the English Football League - writing his name into football and video game history in the process.
I'm not convinced about the theory that Sony lost against a community because the latter were trained by a game to work together. There are many tight gaming communities that lost the fight against developer/publisher decisions. I think this narrative is primarily just some community navel-gazing.
Two things caused the change. First, the fact that the policy would have delisted dozens of territories, and thousands of players, had a much bigger impact. If Sony had devised a workaround for those regions, it would not have such a big backlash. Here I will concede the community gained traction, but not because they worked well together through a military game. Rather, Sony's delisting gave them a natural rallying point and built-in support base of delisted players.
Second, and I think this deserves much more attention (though at least you mention it - many reports in the saga do not): Steam agreed to refund gamers who had much more than two hours playtime/two weeks ownership on their accounts. That was huge and effectively forced Sony to face the financial consequences of its decision.
If Sony had offered a workaround for non-PSN region players and Steam didn't alter its returns policy, I don't think the policy would have changed, no matter how much the community complained.