Stellar Blade‘s Steam rollout has been mysteriously blocked in international locations like Egypt, Vietnam, Estonia, and Cuba.
Whereas there’s been no formal assertion on why gross sales have been blocked in over 100 countries around the world, it is thought the record broadly matches that of locations the place PlayStation Community is just not out there.
However here is the complicated factor: Stellar Blade does not require gamers to enroll to PSN to play, which has left gamers questioning why on earth gross sales have been restricted.
It is potential the block comes not as a result of Stellar Blade requires a PSN connection, however as a result of it provides an non-obligatory one. Although not confirmed by both developer ShiftUp or Sony itself simply but, some are speculating that it might be as a result of gamers are invited to enroll through their PSN account to safe an non-obligatory pores and skin for Eve.
The sport is not out there in ~130 international locations on Steam and Epic Video games Retailer. pic.twitter.com/D79a3HrUut
— Mikhail Shevkun 🐶 (@MWorldII) May 15, 2025
Extra apparently nonetheless, it appears ShiftUp itself has been stunned by the restrictions. Whereas the staff has responded to a number of sad tweets on X/Twitter, asking the complainants where they live, they’ve but to supply any additional details about why the sport is blocked in sure international locations.
Regardless of providing tens of millions of followers the prospect to get pleasure from experiences that had been in any other case locked behind console exclusivity, Sony has fumbled its rollout on PC, with many gamers blasting the corporate for its obligatory PSN connection requirement. It meant that gamers wanted to have an account and hyperlink it in order to get pleasure from their chosen recreation in any respect, even when the title was a single-player recreation like God of Warfare or The Final of Us. The requirement led to backlash from PC gamers in territories the place PSN is unavailable.
The drama first hit the Helldivers 2 group in Might final 12 months, when PlayStation introduced that Steam customers would want to attach a PlayStation Community account to play. The corporate, nonetheless, shortly took again that call because it reversed course only a few days later.
This has since been additional compounded, nonetheless, by the actual fact PSN is just not out there in some international locations, which resulted in Helldivers 2 being delisted in round 177 international locations on the time. Most lately, in January 2025, Sony acknowledged it will not require gamers to hyperlink a PlayStation Community account to get pleasure from a few of its PC video games, and as a substitute provided bonuses for individuals who do.
The PC model of Stellar Blade launches through Steam on June 11 together with a raft of PC-specific options, together with AI upscaling through Nvidia DLSS 4 and AMD FSR 3, an unlocked framerate, Japanese and Chinese language voiceover, ultrawide show help, increased decision setting textures, and DualSense help for haptic suggestions and set off results.
IGN’s Stellar Blade overview returned a 7/10. We mentioned: “Stellar Blade is nice in the entire most necessary methods for an motion recreation, however boring characters, a lackluster story, and a number of other irritating components of its RPG mechanics forestall it from hovering together with the perfect of the style.”
Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and guide. She’s additionally a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually Excessive Chaos. Discover her at BlueSky.