Earth Defense Force 6, the latest installment in the long-running franchise that inspired Helldivers 2, is out on Steam. It's already struggling, though, as players have slammed it with negative reviews due to its mandatory registration with Epic Games.

EDF 6 originally released for PlayStation in 2022 and spent a few years there before recently migrating to Steam on July 25th. It was immediately met with a sharply negative reaction from players, as the game requires everyone to log in with an Epic Games account in order to access some online elements. Some Steam reviews alleged that the game failed to mention the Epic Games requirement on its Steam page, leading to their surprise when the prompt appeared. While the requirement has since been added to the game’s listing page, developer Sandlot has responded to the backlash and apologized for not mentioning it sooner.

In its response, the developer explained that an Epic Games account is required to “enhance crossplay and online functionality.” Sandlot explained that players will only need to log in once and will not see the prompt again. The developer then shared a link for players to create an account. This too has generated a flurry of backlash from players who object to such practices. It’s reminiscent of the Helldivers 2 drama over PlayStation Network logins, which even led to the game being removed from over 170 countries due to PSN not being available there.

As it stands, Earth Defense Force 6, the first new competitor to Helldivers 2, currently sits at “Mostly Negative” reviews on Steam, with 61 percent of players unwilling to recommend the game. An overwhelming majority of reviews simply cite the Epic Games account requirement as the reason, leading to an unfortunate situation because the game itself is not the reason for such a reception.