Do you need PlayStation Plus to play Helldivers 2? Explained

With the steady popularity of Helldivers 2, more people are joining the fight for Democracy day by day. However, can PlayStation 5 users play Helldivers 2 without a Plus membership? We can break this down below.

Do you need a PlayStation Plus subscription to play Helldivers 2?

Unfortunately, you will need a PlayStation Plus subscription to play Helldivers 2 if you are on the PS5. Though you have paid for the game, any tier of Sony’s online subscription service is needed to play online.

If you have the game without PS Plus, you can only play solo, which is not the best idea. It’s totally doable to play Helldivers 2 alone, but after the mid-tier difficulties, the game will feel next to impossible. 

Why is PS Plus needed to play Helldivers 2?

You can play many games online without a PS Plus membership on your PlayStation 5. However, that is only limited to free-to-play games. Helldivers 2 is not a F2P game, so you do need a subscription to the service to play online.

One way you can play Helldivers 2 online is if you enable PS5 console sharing with a friend who does have an active PS Plus subscription. That way, with their account being active as primary on your console, you get the benefits of the subscription. It’ll also allow them to play online since the benefits are under their account. 

The other way you can play Helldivers 2 without PlayStation Plus is if you purchase the game on Steam and play through PC. Even with the whole PlayStation account fiasco that happened earlier this year, it’s still possible.

Even if you disable cross-play and only choose to pair up with others on the PS5 with you, a Plus subscription is still required to play the game.