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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 Canine’s single-player journey contains the now-standard Sony requirement for a PlayStation Community 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 outcome, PC avid gamers in over 100 international locations received’t be capable of purchase the sport on Steam as a result of Sony doesn’t function PlayStation accounts in these markets.
PSN is obtainable in simply 73 international locations, leaving many out within the chilly. The Baltics, together with states which can be half of the European Union (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), and the overwhelming majority of international locations in Africa are additionally excluded. For years, some gamers in these international locations have created a PSN in a supported area to get across the restrictions, however there are considerations 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 unfavourable Steam critiques as a outcome of the PSN requirement regardless of whether or not the video games themselves are nice or run effectively. In September, God of Struggle Ragnarök met with a ‘combined’ consumer assessment score on Steam following its PC launch, with most of the complaints revolving across the PSN requirement.
One disgruntled fan even created a God of Struggle Ragnarök mod that eliminated the requirement, nevertheless it 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, reminiscent of God of Struggle Ragnarök, Till Daybreak, 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 assessment 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 consumer assessment historical past graph 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 international locations that lack PSN. And certainly all Sony’s video games on PC now undergo from this downside.
When it introduced the PSN requirement for Helldivers 2, Sony stated it needed to do with participant safety. “Account linking performs a crucial position in defending our gamers and upholding the values of security and safety supplied on PlayStation and PlayStation Studios video games,” Sony stated in a assertion issued on the time. “That is our most important option to defend gamers from griefing and abuse by enabling the banning of gamers that interact in that sort of conduct. It additionally permits these gamers which have been banned the appropriate to enchantment.”
Maybe bracing itself for a backlash it knew was to return, Sony added: “We perceive that whereas this can be an inconvenience to some of you, this step will assist us to proceed to construct a neighborhood that you’re all proud to be a half of. “Many thanks on your continued assist of Helldivers 2!”
The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered probably faces a comparable backlash on launch that Sony’s different PC video games have seen, regardless of the Steam warning months upfront.
Wesley is the UK Information Editor for IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You may attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.