Sony: Some PC ports of PlayStation games now run without a PSN account

Sony has shown itself to be at least a little lenient in the ongoing debate about PSN account requirements on the PC: several single-player titles will also be playable on the PC without a PSN account in the future, the PlayStation manufacturer announced in a blog entry.

Although there are only four titles in total, they represent the majority of Sony's blockbuster portfolio: The PSN account will remain optional for “Marvel's Spider-Man 2”, which is expected to be released on Thursday, as well as for “The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered”, which will be released for PC in April. In addition, the PSN account requirement will no longer apply to the titles “God of War Ragnarök” and “Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered”, which have already been released for PC, writes Sony on its blog entry.

Sony no longer wants to force PC users to log in with a PSN account, at least for these titles. Instead, registration is to be encouraged through digital goodies that players will only receive if they log into their account. These are usually additional costumes that would not be unlocked in the normal course of the game, or would only be unlocked very late. In the case of “God of War Ragnarök” and “The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered”, there are also small experience point boosts.

Controversy over mandatory accounts

Sony began requiring a PSN account for its PC games last year. This caused controversy, particularly in the case of the multiplayer shooter “Helldivers 2”: Because the account requirement also applied to countries where PSN is not offered at all, Sony had to withdraw the game from sale in the affected countries.

PC gamers in other countries were also annoyed by the obligation to register and log in with an additional account. Several ports from Sony were punished by users with negative reviews. The latest announcement shows that Sony is moving away from the blanket PSN requirement, at least for single-player titles – even if Sony does not mention the controversy in the short blog entry.

Sony has recently brought its own single-player productions to the PC, with some delay. Most of them take around two years, including “God of War Ragnarök”, “Horizon Forbidden West” and “Spider-Man: Miles Morales”. Spider-Man 2", which will be released on Wednesday, only took 15 months from console release to PC release.

(dahe)