We all know that Sony’s PSN requirement on PC is very unpopular, but the company has made it clear it has no intention to scrap it in the future.
Earlier this year, Sony faced a bit of a PR crisis when it announced it would be forcing Helldivers 2 players to connect their game to a PSN account, despite the fact it had been out for months at the time. Sony quickly walked back that decision, but later releases, including the Horizon Zero Dawn remaster, have kept the requirement in, despite that particular title being single-player. This constant inclusion of the requirement has led many of Sony’s flagship titles to end up with some pretty mixed reviews on Steam, but that hasn’t changed the company’s plans, as in a recent investors call, Sony president Hiroki Totoki made it clear as to why it has the requirement in the first place.
“We have learned a lot,” Totoki said (thanks, PC Gamer). “The way to face the issues regarding PC, for instance, the PlayStation accounts that we have offered—by offering them, for instance, sometimes that tends to invite pushback. But for the live service games, in order to maintain order of the gaming, so that anybody can enjoy the game safely, we need to create [an] environment conducive to that, [and] of course enjoying the game freely.
“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.” As PC Gamer notes, this was translated live, but it’s obvious that what Totoki is saying here is that the PSN requirement is here to stay. This will obviously continue to be frustrating for many players, as there are still plenty who live in countries where you can’t even have a PSN account, despite Steam existing there.
In terms of everyone else who can get an account but just doesn’t want to, well, I’m sure Sony is just waiting for them to stop caring. I’m sure it can afford to.
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