PSN Account to Become Optional for Select PlayStation Titles on PC - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 29 January 2025 / 1,662 Views
Sony Interactive Entertainment announced a PlayStation Network account will now be optional on select games available on PC, while adding new benefits for those who connect to a PSN account.
The games are Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, God of War Ragnarök, The Last of Us Part II Remastered, and Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered.
"Game creators at PlayStation Studios will continue to work on bringing more benefits to players who sign up for a PlayStation Network account," reads the announcement.
Those who sign in with a PlayStation Network account for these titles will get free bonuses:
- Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 - Early unlock suits: the Spider-Man 2099 Black Suit and the Miles Morales 2099 Suit.
- God of War Ragnarök - Gain access to the Armor of the Black Bear set for Kratos at the first Lost Items chest in the Realm Between Realms (previously only accessible in a New Game+ run) and a resource bundle (500 Hacksilver and 250 XP).
- The Last of Us Part II Remastered - +50 points to activate bonus features and unlock extras. Jordan’s Jacket from Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet as a skin for Ellie.
- Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered - Gain access to Nora Valiant outfit.
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 will launch for PC via Steam and Epic Games Store on January 30, 2025.
The Last of Us Part II Remastered will launch for PC via Steam and Epic Games Store on April 3, 2025.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Bluesky.
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Should have been from the get go. I know they wanted PSN connections for whatever reasons but was definitely handled very poorly.
Investors like account data numbers. The same was a thing with Blizz investors during the earlier WoW days, up until WoD expansion, when Blizz themselves started hiding sub counts, due to the decline in subbers.
Sony originally enforcing PSN was to actually inflate the number of users using PSN via PC. There is no factual say in the matter of them "providing a safe and secure environment", because you and I both know that isn't a real excuse (on Steam of all places as well).
A lot of PC users don't though. It wasn't until Helldivers 2 took off on PC that Sony tried enforcing PSN requirements. It's all about engagement these days. Doesn't matter if it's free. It helps inflates stats like Monthly Active Users. Stuff that investors care about. How many people are using your platform (or ecosystem) the bigger the number, the more money you'll more likely bring in as the chances of players spending money goes higher the more players there are in the ecosystem.
This is what Xbox in particular is trying to go after.
They can view sales by literally counting the number sold or players of MP games by looking at their own internal data on servers to get that data.
Sounds like smoke and mirrors and not for consumers but for investors. 3 accounts 1 person paying. Sales are on Steam not PSN so they aren't even spending money in their ecosystem.
You remember why the PSN on Helldiver's was an issue? (it was supposed to be with it at launch but they had issues and turned it off then later reactivated it). Not because it was needed but because it wasn't available in certain countries.
They went from selling the game in more regions than they cater for to locking people out of legitmate sales just for "PSN account numbers." Less sales, even refunds and an investor should be pleased?
It's literally idiocy.
Good start! But, why is Spider-Man 2 STILL not available for pre-order when the Steam page is advertising pre-order bonuses, and the game releases tomorrow? lol
And still no system requirements? That's not a good sign!
Awesome! I wish this info was out sooner, but better late than never!
Better than nothing I guess, but it's time to stop requiring it for any title. Sony just wants to get even more access to more people's data than they already have and they hope the people won't mark no to promotional emails.
Sega's starting theirs up and I hope to got they just keep theirs forever optional too (and also no launcher).
I also hope to god that Sony doesn't try screwing with Steam's overhead UI when playing their games on Steam, because that would sure be super convenient for them to say "use PSN and get our overlay/trophies!".
I'm still not going to sign up for the account I lost back in 2013 Sony...
But at least now I can fucking finally see your games on Steam again now. Just sell the games and don't force anything else and the spice will flow.
I'm surprised, but this is good. Assuming no other form of DRM is coming to replace this, I'll be buying some games at some point - and logging in to my PSN account to get trophies.
It should only apply to single player games. Multiplayer I understand
"they don't tell you unless they passed mile stone" LOL good excuse for another greedy 3 trillion dollar company forcing mandatory account to play games on PC, that absolutely justified them doing the exact same shit /s....... what an absolute joke of an argument.
I mean there's a huge difference when one company makes an OS and has their main account system for that OS tied to their console division.
meanwhile Sony makes games and now magically requires PC gamers to sign into their console ecosystem.
MS originally had two separate ones. One for Windows, one for Xbox, now it's rolled into one and just called Xbox, and now that is primarily baked into Windows OS.
Last I checked Sony hasn't gone ahead and made a Sony OS and baked PSN into it. Also the last time MS forced me to do anything was when GFWL reared it's ugly head, and that was generations ago.
Just to be clear, I don't really side or like either of them, but I know there's an actual difference between the two systems and their histories. Also I lost my PSN account due to that 2013 debacle, meanwhile I have not lost my MS account, so I guess that's something?.
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