Ah shoot, here we go again.
The developers behind Ghost of Tsushima have announced that PSN accounts will be required for multiplayer on PC. Fortunately, the same is not true of the game’s single-player mode.
This news arrives right after the Helldivers 2 PR disaster resulting from a similar requirement. Sony’s PlayStation, the publisher behind both, seems intent on making PSN accounts a standard requirement on their titles moving forward.
Is Ghost of Tsushima repeating a mistake?
Last week, the Helldivers 2 community on Steam rebelled against Sony for imposing a similar PSN account requirement. The news spread like wildfire, resulting in over 300-thousand negative reviews on Steam and Sony eventually backing down from its position.
History is now repeating itself leading up to Ghost of Tsushima’s PC release on May 16th. Sucker Punch’s Tweet was a mere day after the Helldivers 2 announcement but garnered much less attention until now.
Similarities and differences
A few key factors separate Sony’s strategy with Ghost of Tsushima from its actions with Helldivers 2.
The first is that PSN accounts are only required to access Ghost of Tsushima’s multiplayer on PC, while single-player is fully playable without one. In contrast, the Helldivers 2 implementation would prevent access completely without a linked PSN account.
The announcement’s timing contributed largely to the Helldivers 2 community’s rage. Arriving three months after the game’s release, the change came well beyond many players’ eligible refund window. However, Ghost of Tsushima is making things clear two weeks ahead of its release on Steam and Epic.
Unfortunately, there is one extremely concerning issue both games’ situations have in common. That similarity is that Sony’s PSN is only available in around 70 countries worldwide. This means that a significant number of PC players will be completely unable to play Ghost of Tsushima’s multiplayer.
Neither Sucker Punch Productions nor Sony have proposed any solution for those in this situation.
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