Issues with game libraries and company support experience *spawn

[Shifty Geezer]

I thought I'd revisit Helldivers 1 on PS4 to see if patches had improved it. I'm told I have to buy it again under a different name. WTF?! Sony can sell you a title, then just revoke the license and expect you to buy a different SKU?? I could understand if it was closed down, but making my version unavailable and selling me a different one???

Can't find any way to contact Sony! Absolutely zero contact method on website that just offers pre-fixed FAQs.

 

[Davros]

If you would have bought it on P.C you wouldn't have that problem

 

[Nesh]

But it still boggles the mind that on PS4 he has to rebuy it unless something else he is missing

 

[Scott_Arm]

I thought I'd revisit Helldivers 1 on PS4 to see if patches had improved it. I'm told I have to buy it again under a different name. WTF?! Sony can sell you a title, then just revoke the license and expect you to buy a different SKU?? I could understand if it was closed down, but making my version unavailable and selling me a different one???

Can't find any way to contact Sony! Absolutely zero contact method on website that just offers pre-fixed FAQs.

Just to clarify, you bought a game under your account and are trying to play it again under the same account, but they removed the game from the library and then re-added it under a different name and now you'd have to purchase it again to play it?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

If you would have bought it on P.C you wouldn't have that problem

I know. I might well ditch PlayStation. that they can remove your content and then make it impossible to contact them to raise issue is disgusting, contemporary corporate shite.

Just to clarify, you bought a game under your account and are trying to play it again under the same account, but they removed the game from the library and then re-added it under a different name and now you'd have to purchase it again to play it?

Yes. I bought the original Helldivers

HELLDIVERS™: Super-Earth Ultimate Edition

Mount the optimum assault on the extra-terrestrial enemies of Super Earth. Download HELLDIVERS™ Super-Earth Ultimate Edition to get HELLDIVERS and every single piece of DLC – every reinforcement class, weapon, Stratagem and vehicle – plus a HELLDIVERS theme for your PlayStation®4 home screen.

store.playstation.com

This is labelled as £24.99 when not logged in. When I log in to the store, it's marked as "Unavailable". I'm told...



On PS5, I can go to my library, select the game, and I'm directed to buy the "Helldivers: Dive Harder Edition":

HELLDIVERS™ Dive Harder Edition

HELLDIVERS™ is a hardcore, cooperative, twin stick shooter. As part of the elite unit called the HELLDIVERS, players must work together to protect SUPER EARTH and defeat the enemies of mankind in an intense intergalactic war. HELLDIVERS™ Dive Harder Edition is a free upgrade for all existing...

store.playstation.com

This is the UK Support website. Where's the 'contact us' option??

Just wondering about PS5 compatibility and if it got an update, I found this:

HELLDIVERS™ Dive Harder Edition is a free upgrade for all existing owners and include:

Edit: Just found my Helldivers disc. I'll try it in the PS4

To conclude, the game disc updates to "Dive Harder" on the PS4. As I have a Digital PS5, I cannot use the disc, and without something like MS's proposed license management system for the XBO, cannot transfer the game license. The main problem here was no information on the PS website, library, or store to tell me what my license type was, and no way to actually contact Sony who just use bloody robots and round-robin websites to deflect any need to actually employ support staff.

It's interesting to see a lot of the elements people are praising in Helldivers 2 were present in HD1 from the beginning, such as the novel input mechanic. I wonder why HD1 didn't do anything like as well?

Oh, and full auto firing doesn't work for me! Maybe my trigger isn't registering 100% press? Can't use a DS5 on PS4 to test though. This is a known issue and supported in game.

 

[pharma]

This is the UK Support website. Where's the 'contact us' option??

It's pretty well hidden but accessible near the end of the link.

About Us

www.playstation.com

 

[Nesh]

@Shifty Geezer wait I am confused now. You bought on both disk and digital?
How were you expecting the game to run if you didn't have the disk in? Of course it would have prompted you to buy it

 

[Shifty Geezer]

It's pretty well hidden but accessible near the end of the link.

About Us

www.playstation.com

So nowhere in the 'Support' or 'Contact' pages...

@Shifty Geezer wait I am confused now. You bought on both disk and digital?
How were you expecting the game to run if you didn't have the disk in? Of course it would have prompted you to buy it

I didn't know where I had bought it! I thought I had bought the download as I usually did, but back then I bought it on disc, it turns out.

Fair enough, but the info from Sony wasn't telling me anything other than hinting I had bought it as a digital copy. It's telling me I already own it when I go to buy it yet it doesn't appear in my library as something I own. There's no indicator where I own it. If it weren't for finding the game disc hidden away in storage, I'd be completely clueless and assume, from the provided info, I had a digital copy I couldn't access. While Sony can't be asked what's going on. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Nesh]

So nowhere in the 'Support' or 'Contact' pages...


I didn't know where I had bought it! I thought I had bought the download as I usually did, but back then I bought it on disc, it turns out.

Fair enough, but the info from Sony wasn't telling me anything other than hinting I had bought it as a digital copy. It's telling me I already own it when I go to buy it yet it doesn't appear in my library as something I own. There's no indicator where I own it. If it weren't for finding the game disc hidden away in storage, I'd be completely clueless and assume, from the provided info, I had a digital copy I couldn't access. While Sony can't be asked what's going on. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Can you post a screenshot how it looks in your library? I m curious

 

[Shifty Geezer]

PSN Store in browser when not logged in:



Click button.



Sign in:



My game library in browser is 325 PS4 titles unsearchable and unsortable, so scrolling through 14 pages manually, Helldivers doesn't appear.

In the PS4, Helldivers is shown as 'On this PS4' in the library with a disc icon. It doesn't show in the wider library on PS4 or PS5.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Moved out of the Helldivers 2 thread. Can focus on people's experience with the console companies.

I'll add another experience was Torchlight 3. A clearly broken game at launch, Sony wouldn't refund me at first but I stood my ground, pointed out a long history with PlayStation and said I was ready to walk. They eventually refunded credit. I love the convenience of consoles over PC, but the customer experience happily holds you to ransom. When it's good, it's good, but it can turn sour pretty quickly. Steam seems the best customer-focussed experience but I haven't really dealt with them on troubles that don't fit their automated processes, so maybe they are also jerks?

 

[tuna]

I want to play CoD: Infinite Warfare, but I can't buy it on PS Store Guess I have to find a disk and buy that.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I want to play CoD: Infinite Warfare, but I can't buy it on PS Store Guess I have to find a disk and buy that.

I don't understand the problem or parallel.

 

[Davros]

Steam seems the best customer-focussed experience

No GOG
So now you found the disc were you able to install and play it ?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

No GOG
So now you found the disc were you able to install and play it ?

Yes. It updated to the latest "Dive Harder" version. The real issue was miscommunicating the state of the license, which I didn't 'own' on digital though the flaky evidence implied I did, and then having no obvious way to resolve the issue.

 

[Davros]

It shouldn't bloody matter what version you have.....

 

[Shifty Geezer]

It will when it's a disc game versus download. If my PS5 had a disc drive, I could play the game having found the disc - put in the disc, update to the dive Harder version for free, and play so long as I have the disc in to enable the license. That's no different for any game on any platform. No platform supports transferring from a physical license to a digital one. No-one's ever talked about that except MS for XBO and it's unlikely to ever happen, even with patents out there to support it like one Sony has.

 

[homerdog]

Steam been very good to me. They approved a refund even though it was technically outside of the specified refund period. Unfortunately there is an endless stream of bullshit on the Steam store. Still rather have that than it be heavily moderated and controlled. I like that anyone can release a game on it with minimal fuss.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

No platform supports transferring from a physical license to a digital one. No-one's ever talked about that except MS for XBO and it's unlikely to ever happen, even with patents out there to support it like one Sony has.

Actually... Steam is able to transfer a physical license to a digital one. I did that with all qualifying products back in the early 2000's. Obviously no-one knows about that anymore because new physical media on PC doesn't really exist anymore.

Blizzard also were kind enough to transfer people's physical disc license to digital on PC. I did that a few years back with Warcraft III, Diablo, Diablo 2 and Starcraft.

It's too bad the vocal objectors on the internet convinced MS and game publishers to abandon that initiative on console. /sigh. It really made console gamers look like digital luddites at the time.

Regards,
SB

 

[Shifty Geezer]

How do they nullify the physical license on the disc? Did you have to send it to them??