Bad day for PlayStation-linked games starting with H

Helldivers 2 and Horizon Forbidden West have disappeared from the Steam store in the UK, something that's happened rather out of nowhere and looks like it might've even taken publishers PlayStation by surprise. Said publishers have issued a statement noting that they've already reached out to Valve to get the games back up.

While the affected games are still playable via the Steam libraries of UK folks who own copies of them, their store listings have been replaced with a message which reads "An error was encountered while processing your request: This item is currently unavailable in your region". That, naturally, means anyone in the UK who doesn't own these games on Steam currently can't buy them or any unowned DLC.

"We are aware of an issue affecting the availability of select titles on Steam in the UK," a Sony spokesperson told VGC. "We are working with Valve to address the issue. We apologise for the inconvenience." So, it seems they'll likely be back to normal soon.

Taking a look at SteamDB (as spotted by r/Steam user JustWannaFollowStuff), it appears that Great Britain, the Isle of Man, and United Kingdom have been added to the list of countries/regions in which Helldivers 2 and Forbidden West are barred from being purchased, with the changes having taken place yesterday, September 16th.

How something like that happens, seemingly unintentionially given Sony's comments about an "issue", is puzzling. One would assume it might have something to do with Sony often restricting their published games to countries in which their PSN service operates, as a result of requiring that PC players make use of or link a PSN account when playing those games. Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is the most recent high-profile example of a PlayStation-backed game facing such restrictions, while Helldivers 2 was pretty much patient zero back in 2024. Though, neither game was barred from purchase in the UK, since PSN very much operates here in the Sadness Islands.

Here's hoping the affected games' Steam listings are back up soon.