helldivers 2 faced its biggest struggle last weekend after it was announced that players had to link their PlayStation Network and Steam accounts. After days of tension, Sony backed down and ended its original plans. Although the community triumphed, it appears there were casualties along the way.
On May 3, it was announced that account linking would be a mandatory requirement to enjoy the acclaimed multiplayer title. Arrowhead Game Studios. Because the PSN is not available in all regions, thousands of players would be unable to play the game, even if they purchased the title in early 2024.
Naturally, the PC community showed its discontent through requests for refunds and more than 250,000 negative reviews, in addition to the game being withdrawn from sale on Steam in 177 countries. In the midst of this chaos, the studio’s developers and community managers tried to appease the fans’ anger.
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Community manager who supported the Helldivers 2 review bombing was fired
In the heat of controversy, the community manager Spitz stirred up a hornet’s nest when he criticized players who couldn’t spend 120 seconds of their day to create a PlayStation Networkand argued that other games also require users to link to third-party services.
Those comments apparently came shortly after the initial statement was released. As the controversy escalated in intensity, the worker Arrowhead Game Studios He apologized, explained that he was unaware that the PSN is conspicuous by its absence in so many countries and immediately expressed his support for the fans’ position.
Next, the community manager of helldivers 2 He promised that they were holding internal discussions to try to reverse this situation, and urged fans to request refunds and write negative reviews so that complaints would reach Sony. All said and done, players were very vocal and expressed their anger on social media, forums, and other channels.
The discontent did not go unnoticed by PlayStation, who backtracked on the plans and announced that mandatory account linking will no longer be a mandatory requirement. While the community celebrated, it appears that Spitz was fired for publicly supporting the review bombing.
In response to a fan on the Discord channel helldivers 2, the worker claimed he was almost fired. “It turns out that telling people to review bomb and ask for refunds on the game is not a popular decision among the publisher. But I’m still here and I’m glad we all made a difference,” Spitz said in a message.
However, it seems that, after all, the community manager did lose his job after the controversy of helldivers 2. On May 7, the worker wrote “today is a dark day” and fans noticed that his account was deleted from a news channel. He later shared a message suggesting that encouraging players to leave negative reviews and request refunds cost him his job.
“I appreciate all the support and am even more grateful that everyone can play the title again without restrictions. I knew I was taking a risk when I said the thing about refunds and reviews. I still maintain it. It was my job to represent the community, and that’s what I did. I’ll take the rest of the day off, I’m not feeling very well. I love you all,” Spitz wrote.
“I wanted to work for Arrowhead because it’s my favorite studio of all time. I had that opportunity and I am grateful. I would gladly work for them if I had the choice, but that’s not up to me or anyone else here. “I can leave happy and I don’t want anyone to cause problems on my behalf, especially people for whom I still have a lot of love and respect,” commented the former community manager of helldivers 2.
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