Gaming IndustrySony isn’t giving up on PSN account requirement for PC games: Company president says it’s necessary so people can ‘safely’ play its gamesWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Gaming IndustrySony isn’t giving up on PSN account requirement for PC games: Company president says it’s necessary so people can ‘safely’ play its gamesWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)
It’s fair to say that Sony’s insistence on requiring a PlayStation Network account for PC versions of its gamesis not widely popular. Don’t expect Sony to back off on it anytime soon, though. Speaking in today’sinvestors call, Sony president, chief operating officer, and chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki said PSN integration is necessary in order to ensure everyone can “safely” enjoy its games.
“Having some restrictions—[we] may not call it a rule—but to ask the users and gamers to follow the manner and [that] balance is very important. We have to continue to seek the best way to achieve this.”
The most obvious example of that is Helldivers 2, which launched without a PSN requirement because of “technical issues” and enjoyed tremendous success until May, when Sony announced that the PSN-free “grace period” was over. The blowback was furious, to the point that Sony was forced toback down, although not after first trying to power through it, and doing untold damage to the goodwill Helldivers 2 had enjoyed up to that point.
Any thought Sony might drop the idea completely went out the window very quickly, though. Just weeks after the Helldivers 2 blowup, Ghost of Tsushima’s PC port wasdelisted on Steam in nearly 200 countriesbecause of a PSN requirement for its newly-added multiplayer mode; shortly after that, Sony confirmed thatGod of War Ragnarokwould also require a PSN login. In October,Horizon Zero Dawn Remasteredcame to Steam with the same requirement attached.
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PlayStation Network accounts are free to set up and once that’s done and your accounts are linked you shouldn’t have to think about it again, so it’s not the most onerous task ever. But it is a hassle, and I can readily understand (and share) the sentiment that we have enough of that to deal with already. Some publishers seem to recognize that fact—I think of BioWare vocally making the point that Dragon Age: The Veilguard can be playedentirely offline, with no linked accounts required—but Sony is clearly going hard in the other direction.
Maybe that’s the right strategy for a mega publisher. I remember being pretty pissed off myself when I had to sign up for this new “Steam” thing just so I could play Half Life 2, and we all know how that turned out. There are also signs that gamers are getting used to it, or are at least getting tired of fighting about it. God of War: Ragnarok ate a big pile of negative reviews when it launched on Steam but has since climbed to a “very positive” overall rating, and while Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered isn’t faring quite as well, it also came to the party with a number ofbugs and crash issues. Sony wasn’t able to enforce its will on Helldivers 2, but in the big picture I think there’s a good chance gamers will throw in the towel long before Sony does.
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