The Earth Defense Force 6 Steam launch has been a mixed success. Finally arriving on PC, the bold, bright, and bananas co-op game has been met, quite rightly, with high player numbers and some serious raw enthusiasm - to this day, there is nothing like the EDF series, and we're glad the latest edition has finally gotten a port. There is, however, a problem. In order to play Earth Defense Force 6 multiplayer, you need to make and link an Epic Online Services account, even if you and all your compadres are using Steam. Just like Helldivers 2 and the PSN debacle, it's resulted in a pretty hellish review bombing campaign. Now, however, everything might be about to change.
As PCGamesN reported previously, on launch day, the Earth Defense Force 6 Steam rating was dragged to a disreputable 'very negative.' Players love the co-op game, but having to link their Steam accounts to Epic Online Services is causing frustration. Developer Sandlot explained the nature of the problem.
While in the past the Earth Defense Force series has used its own proprietary network for online play, since the original version of EDF 6 was launched for both the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, the studio needed a more robust system that could handle crossplay - this wasn't available in-house, and so Epic was chosen as a third-party provider. As such, if you're playing the new Steam version, you still need that Epic account.
Now, however, things could be changing. Just as Sony and Arrowhead reversed on the PSN account linking for Helldivers 2, in a new statement, Sandlot says it is "reviewing" the stipulation over EDF 6 and Epic accounts.
"Thank you for your feedback on Earth Defense Force 6," the developer says. "The EDF 6 development team for Steam is reviewing and planning changes to the specification that requires sign in to [an] Epic Games account, which has received the most feedback. At this time, we are unable to provide specifics on how much time this will take, but we will continue to work on it as we address the feedback we have received."
Exactly what will happen with regards to EOS accounts is still unclear, but EDF 6's reputation on Steam has improved since launch day. On Thursday July 25, only 18% of user reviews were positive. Now, 24 hours later, that's swelled to 42%. If Sandlot strips out the account linking requirement entirely, Earth Defense Force 6 will almost certainly get the plaudits it deserves.
We'll see how it all shakes out. Until then, you might want to try some of the other best multiplayer games, or maybe get a look ahead with the best upcoming PC games on their way to you.
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