Online play in PlayStation and Arrowhead Game Studios’ third-person action co-op shooter, Helldivers 2, will require the PS Plus subscription paywall on PS5 while being free on PC.
It’s common knowledge that the ability to play online is free on PC and requires a PS Plus subscription on PS5. This also isn’t the first time an online focused Sony Interactive Entertainment published title has required the PS Plus subscription paywall on PS5 while being free on PC and releasing day and date on both platforms. IllFonic’s Predator: Hunting Grounds is one such game where this has happened before. Regardless, we believe it’s worth highlighting that Sony’s treatment of its primary user base in such cases is rather disappointing.
Of course, there’s also the issue of PlayStation potentially not being able to make an exception for its own first party titles when it puts every third party multiplayer title that isn’t free-to-play behind the PS Plus paywall. It’s a complex situation, though it is one where PlayStation’s secondary audience i.e. the PC community, ends up benefiting over its primary console audience.
Perhaps a good way to balance out this situation and offer more value to the core PlayStation audience may have been to make Helldivers 2 available day one on PS Plus Extra. The subscription would then cover both the online paywall and the game’s cost. However, that is not the case, and PS5 players will need to be subscribed to one of the PS Plus tiers in addition to dishing out $39.99 for the game, while PC players will only need to buy the game in order to jump in online.
Helldivers 2 is an upcoming online tactical third-person shooter that is developed by Arrowhead Game Studios and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, and it is scheduled for release for the PS5 and PC on February 8, 2024. Serving as the sequel to the 2015’s Helldivers, the game is set in a satirical futuristic world dominated by the “managed democracy” of Super Earth.
