Now that players of Helldivers 2 have effectively badgered Sony enough that it decided to reverse its PSN account requirement, the playerbase is continuing to mobilize and attempt to undo the damage its done to the shooter’s Steam user review aggregate in a show of goodwill and thanks for the decision.
As we reported earlier this week, there were multiple rallying calls on the game’s subreddit to reverse the negative reviews back into positive ones, and it looks as if the effort is paying off: At the apex of the firestorm, H2 was at a “Mixed” overall score and “Overwhelmingly Negative” recent score; it’s now climbed back to “Mostly Positive” and “Mixed” respectively at the time of this writing.
While players are trying to reverse that damage, the consequences of the review bombing campaign have caught one of Arrowhead’s community managers in the collateral damage. CM Spitz, who had earlier encouraged fans to use Steam reviews as leverage, announced in the Discord that he was let go by Arrowhead over the matter.
“Generally it’s not a good idea to tell people to refund and leave negative reviews when you’re a community manager. TIL. I appreciate all the support and I appreciate even more that everyone can play the game again without restrictions. I knew I was taking a risk with what I said about refunding and changing reviews. I stand by it. It was my job to represent the community, that’s what I did.”
Fans have also attempted to rally around Spitz, asking Arrowhead to reverse the decision in a Change.org petition. “Spitz […] was the reason many Helldivers felt optimistic about returning to the game — and is most likely the reason many of us didn’t attempt a refund,” the petition argues. “Arrowhead: We implore you to return this icon to their previously held position in recognition of his bold Community Management strategy — which not only worked, but restored the faith of much of your community.”
