Sony Drops Mandatory PSN Account Requirement For PC Ports Of Single Player Games Like ‘Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’ And ‘God of War Ragnarök’, Will Instead Offer Exclusive “In-Game Content” To Those Who Use Service
After spending the last year battling with players over their attempt to force them to engage with their proprietary digital ecosystem, Sony has announced that they will no longer be requiring players to login to an extraneous PlayStation Network account in order to enjoy the PC ports of the developer’s first-party, single-player titles.
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As previously reported, Sony’s unpopular PSN account requirement was first seen in early 2024 when the wildly popular Helldivers 2, which added the extra layer of digital-rights management months after the game had released.
Though such an account is free to make, this decision was met with massive backlash from players, who not only criticized the added inconvenience of managing two different services (those being PSN and the respective platform which they purchased the game, such as the Epic Game Store or Steam) just to play the game, but also Sony’s blatant attempt to try and entice them to spend money on their digital storefront.
And while many came to begrudgingly accept the requirement as an understandable annoyance for accessing the game’s n online multiplayer servers, their frustrations only served to grow when Sony later confirmed that, despite them being exclusively single-player experiences with absolutely zero multiplayer components, players would also need to login to PSN to access the then-upcoming PC versions of both God of War Ragnarök and Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, as well as the still-to-release ports of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and The Last of Us Part II Remastered.
At this point, players were understandably convinced that regardless of their protests and criticisms, Sony would be sticking to their PSN-related guns for the foreseeable future.
However, in a moment of ‘listening to customer feedback’ that seems ever more rare in the current era, the PlayStation parent company has actually reversed course and dropped the dual-login requirement for the aforementioned quartet of single player games.
In a post revealing the change published to the official PlayStation Blog on January 29th, Sony Studio Business Group SVP Head of Publishing Asad Qizibash informed players that rather than being a mandatory cost of entry, the decision to login to a PSN account would now be left entirely to the individual, with those who chose to do so being granted such in-game bonuses as early content unlocks or exclusive outfits.
“Starting with tomorrow’s release of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 for PC, we’re working to add more benefits to playing with an account for PlayStation Network,” explained Qizibash. “The Last of Us Part II Remastered (coming April 3, 2025), in addition to God of War Ragnarök and Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, will all soon be adding in-game content unlocks for PlayStation Network account users. An account for PlayStation Network will become optional for these titles on PC. Players who still opt to sign into a PlayStation Network account will also enjoy added benefits like trophies and friend management.”
Per the blog post, the PSN bonuses for the named titles include:
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2: Early access to the Spider-Man 2099 Black and Miles Morales 2099 suits
God of War Ragnarök: Early access access to Krato’s Armor of the Black Bear, which was “previously only accessible in a New Game+ run” and a free “resource bundle (500 Hacksilver and 250 XP)”.
The Last of Us Part II Remastered: A starting bonus of “+50 points to activate bonus features and unlock extras”, as well as a wearable version of the jacket worn by Jordan, the protagonist of Naughty Dog’s upcoming Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, for Ellie.
Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered: A completely free Nora Valiant outfit, a rare costume usually only available from an in-game merchant for a high price.
While certainly a welcome move, whether or not this will become the standard for PlayStation PC ports going forward or serve as a one-time measure of good will remains to be seen.
To this end, unfortunately for players of the aforementioned Helldivers 2, the popular Democracy simulator will not be affected by this change, and as such the game will still require them to login into a PSN account in order to play.
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