Sony removes PlayStation account requirement from 4 single-player Steam games: Marvel's Spider-Man 2, God of War Ragnarok, The Last of Us Part II Remastered, and Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered

[kitnaht@lemmy.world]

Yeah, $10 for a remastered re-play of Horizon doesn't sound like a bad time tbh...

[dditty@lemm.ee]

I've honestly wanted to play all of these but haven't gotten around to them and also didn't want to do the Sony account thing out of principle. I wonder how they'd perform on my Steam Deck OLED

[sidewayshighways@lemmy.world]

the steam page still shows 3rd party account requirement? or did I read wrong?

[foobarrington@lemmy.world]

God of War Ragnarok is really good! Valhalla (free DLC, included) is also pretty good, but only play it after the main game is finished.

[stardust@lemmy.ca]

Maybe there's a chance those games will come to GOG now that there isn't the psn requirement.

[ilikeboobies@lemmy.ca]

Only to add it back once they’ve made their sales

Can’t imagine anyone is going to fall for it

[computerchairgeneral@fedia.io]

Mildly surprised Sony actually budged on this. Of course, they really should have had this setup from the start. No one is going to like being forced to set up a PSN account to play a game, but I imagine a lot of people will do it for a free cosmetic skin or whatever in-game incentives they come up with.

[dannyboy@sh.itjust.works]

Is it cheaper if you own the base game? I'm seeing $64.99 CAD. For $10 and no account I'd totally replay it. I played through the first time on PS4.

[hal_5700x@sh.itjust.works]

"However, to incentivize you to still sign in with a PSN account while playing those games, Sony says that it will “soon” be adding “in-game content unlocks” like outfits and resources."

This is a half win.

[kitnaht@lemmy.world]

Yeah, it's a $10 upgrade if you own the base game; I got it on sale a long time ago for $14.

[taiyang@lemmy.world]

I have the base game and didn't know that, thank you random Internet person! $10 is indeed a good deal.

[taiyang@lemmy.world]

Iirc, Steam policy is to allow no-strings-attached refunds if that happens, and it indeed has happened before. I don't see Sony reneging, just doing as stated which is to provide incentives to log in.

[menixator@lemmy.dbzer0.com]

They're still region locked on steam so I wouldn't hold my breath on this one.

[odo@lemmy.world]

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. 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.

"Working to" and "soon be adding" makes it sound like they haven't gone live with the patches for those games quite yet.

[ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml]

No one is going to like being forced to set up a PSN account to play a game, but I imagine a lot of people will do it for a free cosmetic skin or whatever in-game incentives they come up with.

That's the thing I don't get. If they give a free skin or two, and advertise that, and also make it clear that it's optional, I see no reason why they wouldn't still get tons of people either way. That way, everyone is happy.

[muffi@programming.dev]

I really hope other publishers will be inspired. Just yesterday I had an hour to kill on a train ride, and wanted to play some Mass Effect on my SteamDeck. It took 25 minutes just to get started, because EA updated their required launcher, which couldn't be bypassed because it required Internet connection, and then forced the update (which of course bygge out, and had to be redone thrice). A 25 minute boot time for something that doesn't affect the game the slightest is a terrible user experience.

[aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com]

I bet the pirate versions were the superior product because they never required a PSN account.

[lucidnightmare@lemm.ee]

Hey there! I'm also going through Mass Effect right now. The EA app is literally the only thing I HATE about trying to play through those games!

[lucidnightmare@lemm.ee]

They were.

I bought God of War Ragnarok through Steam, and had a hell of a time trying to get past the PlayStation account. I spent an hour or two trying to do this, gave up, refunded the game, and immediately pirated the game.

No PlayStation login, and the game worked fine with whatever updates I could find.

Fuck that, and fuck Sony. You will not do that to me again. I can't speak for others though. I'm sure they will eventually pull this scummy shit again, and we'll be talking about it. Again.

[aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com]

I suspect the heads of those companies, frequently not even being gamers themselves, don't really see gamers as fellow human beings but instead think of them with the same level of empathy as one has for numbers in a ledger.

It probably doesn't help that the phenomenon of fanboyism means that a large proportion of gamers might was well be nothing else than numbers in a ledger given that they always go along with whatever the game maker that they're fans of wishes and does with no real bottom-line-affecting reaction.