Sony has signalled that The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered on PC requires a PSN account three months earlier than the sport’s launch on Steam.
As noticed by VGC, the Steam web page for Naughty Dog’s single-player journey consists of the now-standard Sony requirement for a PlayStation Network account.
PC avid gamers had little hope that Sony would budge on the PSN requirement for its Steam releases, and so it has proved with The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered. As a consequence, PC avid gamers in over 100 nations received’t be capable to purchase the sport on Steam as a result of Sony doesn’t function PlayStation accounts in these markets.
PSN is accessible in simply 73 nations, leaving many out within the chilly. The Baltics, together with states which might be a part of the European Union (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), and the overwhelming majority of nations in Africa are additionally excluded. For years, some gamers in these nations have created a PSN in a supported area to get across the restrictions, however there are issues that Sony might ban the accounts of those that do.
Sony’s PC push has been controversial to say the least, with most of its video games struggling damaging Steam evaluations because of the PSN requirement no matter whether or not the video games themselves are nice or run nicely. In September, God of War Ragnarök met with a ‘blended’ person overview ranking on Steam following its PC launch, with many of the complaints revolving across the PSN requirement.
One disgruntled fan even created a God of War Ragnarök mod that eliminated the requirement, but it surely was pulled down out of worry of reprisal from Sony. Exacerbating the backlash is that Sony has doubled down on this coverage even for single-player video games, equivalent to God of War Ragnarök, Until Dawn, and now The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered.
Sony’s PSN account requirement for its PC video games was thrust into the limelight with the discharge of Arrowhead’s explosive PC and PS5 co-op shooter Helldivers 2 earlier in 2024. Helldivers 2 suffered a overview bomb marketing campaign on Steam after Sony made PSN accounts necessary for PC avid gamers on Valve’s platform (Arrowhead subsequently determined to show the person overview historical past graph right into a cape, which is prepared for launch however has but to launch).
Sony finally backed down and reversed Helldivers 2’s PSN account requirement, however the sport stays unavailable within the many nations that lack PSN. And certainly all Sony’s video games on PC now undergo from this drawback.
When it introduced the PSN requirement for Helldivers 2, Sony stated it needed to do with participant safety. “Account linking performs a important function in defending our gamers and upholding the values of security and safety offered on PlayStation and PlayStation Studios video games,” Sony stated in an announcement issued on the time. “This is our fundamental approach to defend gamers from griefing and abuse by enabling the banning of gamers that have interaction in that sort of habits. It additionally permits these gamers which were banned the best to attraction.”
Perhaps bracing itself for a backlash it knew was to come back, Sony added: “We perceive that whereas this can be an inconvenience to a few of you, this step will assist us to proceed to construct a group that you’re all proud to be part of. “Many thanks on your continued assist of Helldivers 2!”
The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered seemingly faces an identical backlash on launch that Sony’s different PC video games have seen, regardless of the Steam warning months prematurely.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
