PlayStation exclusives eventually releasing on PC has largely been a popular move. However, the one drawback has been the need to connect to a PlayStation Network account to play them, something PlayStation has walked back with previous releases due to backlash. Instead of getting rid of that hurdle entirely, PlayStation is now offering those playing its console exclusives on PC incentives to sign up to PSN and link their accounts to PC.
Revealed via a post on the PlayStation Blog, the rollout of incentives to try and convince PC players to sign up to PSN will begin tomorrow when Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 swings onto its first alternative platform since launching on PS5 in 2023. Those playing on PC will unlock the Spider-Man 2099 black suit and Miles Morales’s 2099 suit for doing so, both of which were bonus suits on PS5 for anyone who picked up the game early.
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Incentives will be applied to other select PlayStation exclusives already available on PC. Anyone who has God Of War Ragnarok on PC will be rewarded with Kratos’s Armor of the Black Bear set, something you could previously only find during a New Game Plus run, for linking to a PSN account. Owners of the PC version of Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered will also be rewarded for linking to PSN, the Nora Valiant outfit awaiting them for doing so.
All of the bonus items mentioned so far are things those playing on the PS5 versions of the games have had access to, whether it be now or during the pre-order period in Spider-Man 2’s case. However, the incentive to connect your PC to a PSN account when playing The Last Of Us Part 2 Remastered, which comes to PC on April 3, is a cosmetic item for Ellie that isn’t currently available to PS5 players – Jordan’s jacket from the trailer for Naughty Dog’s upcoming sci-fi epic, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.
Those are the only four games getting rewards for linking your PSN account to PC for the time being, but PlayStation has promised there will be more in the future. Zero Dawn and Ragnarok’s PC port user reviews both suffered on Steam thanks to PSN requirements. However, Helldivers 2 was where the drama truly began when, at first, PC users had to have a PSN account to play. That was eventually made optional, and it seems PlayStation thinks in-game incentives will convince more PC players to opt-in.