Players on PCs are already reviewing Earth Defense Force 6 due to one of its criteria. Players of the long-running Earth Defense Force series were outraged by the most recent mainline edition when they discovered that the Steam version required a third-party link to an Epic Games Store account in order to play online. Earth Defense Force 6 is now dealing with a severe PC crisis.

Earth Defense Force 6, which was first released in Japan in 2022 for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, went global on 25th July. Earth Defense Force 6 is a cooperative third-person shooter, much like its predecessors. Players take on the role of valiant soldiers of the EDF and must destroy waves of alien invaders. Fans of the franchise have praised Earth Defense Force 6 for its rich content and campy yet endearing plot, and the game has received largely excellent reviews on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.

Nevertheless, Earth Defense Force 6's PC release did not receive the same positive reception as its console counterpart. Because of its third-party account requirements, the game's Steam page immediately became inundated with bad reviews. As of this writing, the game's review score was a pitiful 27 percent, just three points shy of Steam's "Very Negative" rating. While the majority of reviews focused on Earth Defense Force 6's need for an Epic Games Store account, several players also took issue with the game's subpar PC graphics and optimization.

The abrupt demand for a third-party account was linked by many gamers to the PSN account linkage scandal surrounding Helldivers 2, which also threatened to destroy the reputation of the game and its creator, Arrowhead Game Studios. Earth Defense Force supporters were noticeably equally taken aback by the Epic Games Store account need, even though the situation is not exactly the same as Helldivers 2 revealed intentions to impose the account connection requirement months after its launch. This was caused in part by the fact that the Epic Games Store account requirement was not initially mentioned on the Steam page for EDF6, and in part by the fact that this is the first game in the series to enforce the account linking requirement on PC.

There are a few reasons why some Earth Defense Force 6 gamers might be reluctant to use the Epic Games Store, even though making an account might not seem like too much work. The most notable criticism directed towards Epic Games is that it has allegedly paid developers millions of dollars to acquire exclusives on the PC, a practice that many see as anti-consumer and detrimental to the platform's overall success.