As they say, the devil is in the details and those who read the fine print will find that a PlayStation account is required for the upcoming PC version. Despite continued complaints from the PC community about Sony’s commitment to require a PlayStation account to play its games on PC the console maker appears not to be backtracking on that decision any time soon, if ever. Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered was announced a couple of days ago and while a $9.99 fee for PC owners of the complete edition might not annoy many there’s another catch sure to get a rise among many others. Within the fine print, Sony has indicated that the upcoming remaster will require a PlayStation account.
Per PlayStation Blog:
- “The PC version3 on Windows includes the PlayStation overlay with Trophy support and has its own set of features, such as support for ultra-wide resolutions and the latest performance enhancing technologies like NVIDIA DLSS 3 and AMD FSR 3.1 with frame generation4. We will let our Nixxes partners expand more in a future blog.”
- “3Account for PlayStation Network required on PC.“
Sony began instituting its account requirements with Helldivers II, which it backtracked on after many complaints and review bombing. Since then Sony has remained committed to its decision for account requirements despite storefronts having to issue refunds due to Sony not giving access to its network to all markets where games are sold thus causing buyers of its games to be blocked from even creating or logging into its network.
From 3rd party launchers to more account requirements
PC owners have been fairly vocal for some time about not wanting another third-party launcher or having to create another account simply to play their favorite games. From the early days of Steam, GOG, and various Windows storefronts, to Epic Games, EA Play and its predecessor, Ubisoft, and more, the PC gaming ecosystem has become inundated with launchers and account requirements.
These issues were brought up again within the community with Sony’s most recent PC release, God of War Ragnarök. A modder was able to alter its files removing the PSN requirement for those who purchased the game on Steam. However, it doesn’t take much searching on the internet to find comments from others who suggest that Sony has committed to a path that only encourages piracy of its games by increasing the difficulty for those who would otherwise purchase them. It remains to be seen if Sony will ever reconsider its PC PSN requirement. On the other hand, as the library of games needing a PSN account grows newcomers to PC gaming may not care and just take it in stride.