RogueSix wrote on May 10, 2024, 20:08:
Good move to fight the rampant illiteracy among gamers. I don’t even want to know how many idiots from non-PSN countries would have bought this game and then whined about not being able to access the multiplayer. This is how Sony should have done it with Helldivers 2 as well, i.e. region-lock shit *before* the game‘s release.

Sure, the collateral damage is the people from non-PSN countries who would have bought it only for the single player. They can thank their illiterate comrades and the Helldivers 2 whiny brigade for this one.

Yeah, how DARE those people fight for their right to not have a product they paid for be rug-pulled from under them. 🙄

RogueSix wrote on May 11, 2024, 12:01:

MoreLuckThanSkill wrote on May 11, 2024, 11:30:
*EDIT* as far as Sony doing this for 'data analysis' well, it's possible, but really they are just massively encouraging piracy of their games, in most of the world.

Sure but Sony has been doing perfectly fine for decades with the PSN limitations when they never published a single exclusive on the PC. They'll live...

At the end of the day, it is their service(s), their games, their products and they have every right to publish it if/when/where/how ever they please.

You're not wrong in your second sentence, and obviously Sony is surviving as a company, but no one can argue that they are leaving money on the table, and 177 countries' worth of people are just going to have to pirate these games to actually play them. (Or rely on VPNs to fool PSN, but who knows when that could get shut off)

MoreLuckThanSkill wrote on May 11, 2024, 11:30:
*EDIT* as far as Sony doing this for 'data analysis' well, it's possible, but really they are just massively encouraging piracy of their games, in most of the world.

Sure but Sony has been doing perfectly fine for decades with the PSN limitations when they never published a single exclusive on the PC. They'll live...

At the end of the day, it is their service(s), their games, their products and they have every right to publish it if/when/where/how ever they please.

I'm a little surprised people are supporting Sony in this. It'd be one thing if PSN wasn't available in a handful of countries, like North Korea or something, but PSN is apparently not available in 177 countries?!? There are only 195 recognized countries globally. (Excluding contested areas such as Taiwan and Palestine) Also Steam has a plethora of background tools to use for multiplayer and other functions, Sony is just being ridiculous trying to force people into their walled garden.

I'm in a country with PSN support, and I was tempted to get Ghost of Tsushima, but I'll probably hold off for a good year or two, if ever. I have no interest in multiplayer in a game like this, for the record.

*EDIT* as far as Sony doing this for 'data analysis' well, it's possible, but really they are just massively encouraging piracy of their games, in most of the world.

HoSpanky wrote on May 11, 2024, 10:28:
So Sony has chosen fake PSN subscriber numbers over actual, tangible profits. Corporate logic is SO weird.

I don't believe that this is the reason. If I were Sony, I would do this purely for data analysis reasons. It should be interesting to find out how many PC players own a Playstation console and how many are either first time customers of the PC version or how many have already played the game on a Sony console and are return customers with regard to the PC version.

Sony were not lying when they said that they are relative newbies when it comes to publishing on the PC and this kind of data, among quite a few other insights, should give them a clue if timed console exclusivity makes a difference or not. The account linking certainly makes sense from a sales, marketing and product policies perspective. There will be a lot of data and numbers to crunch for the pundits in analysis.

Being able to boast about more PSN accounts may be a nice to have secondary effect but that is certainly not the primary concern here.

So Sony has chosen fake PSN subscriber numbers over actual, tangible profits. Corporate logic is SO weird.

Avus wrote on May 10, 2024, 21:45:
Japan gaming dev are always suck at PC platform. They are always console/arcade first.

So, what you are saying is that Rockstar/Take2, EA, UbiSoft, Blizzard etc. are all Japanese companies? Because all of them require an account (and in the case of Rockstar, EA and Ubi an additional app) to play their games via Steam.

Steele Johnson wrote on May 10, 2024, 21:34:
It would still be a win if I don’t need a PSN account to play a Steam game. Hopefully it will eventually play out the same way. PSN has security breaches every 30 seconds

You need the PSN account for multiplayer in GoT and just like Helldivers 2 this requirement has been put on the Steam store page from day 1 of its listing (just look it up *). The difference is that Helldivers 2's PSN requirement was not enforced at launch due to technical reasons. And when they tried to enforce it, well, we have all seen the ensuing toddler circus...

I had been wondering in one of the Helldivers 2 threads around here how Sony would handle their PSN req with GoT since it is a little more complex as it is only needed for the multiplayer part and not the single player part. They are doing the right thing imo. Better safe than sorry. You can not rely on people's ability to read information about a product they are buying.
Without the region lock this would have ended up in a disaster of another review cluster bombing over nothing.

With regard to PSN security: You can 2FA your PSN account and you have Steam Guard. Nothing is going to happen if you link PSN and a Steam account. Besides, PSN data is really puny. They don't even require your address. Just your city and the zip code. A hacker would have your real name, city, zip code, your linked services, your linked devices (like a PS4 in my case but it only shows the device type and nothing more) and your avatar. That is not exactly anything to lose sleep over...


* One difference between the Helldivers 2 and the Tsushima store pages is that, instead of just putting the PSN requirement on the right side of the store page where you would also find requirements like agreements to certain 3rd party EULAs like Denuvo etc., Sony have now decided to additionally put the PSN requirement in a much more prominent place right at the top of the store page where you will sometimes find important disclaimers such as "Low violence version" or "Can only be played with a controller" or "VR headset required" and so on.
It now explicitly states: "PlayStation Network Account required for Online Multiplayer (Legends Mode) and PlayStation overlay, subject to the PlayStation Network Terms of Service and User Agreement http://www.playstationnetwork.com/terms-of-service"

They are really fighting illiteracy the best they can this time around!

FloorPie wrote on May 11, 2024, 03:36:
Oh, and now it gets worse for HD2... 3 more countries added to not for sale list. Along with previous countries still not turned back on for sale (or play too?).

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/1cov0pk/sony_hates_us/

PSN account guarantees citizenship! Would you like to know more?

No worries. The Steam page says nothing about DRM. This means that pirates will easily take care of the problem by distributing the game in the countries where it has been delisted.

Oh, and now it gets worse for HD2... 3 more countries added to not for sale list. Along with previous countries still not turned back on for sale (or play too?).

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/1cov0pk/sony_hates_us/

sounds like its doing something it should be doing, it may not be required for solo play but you can't sell half a game.

taryuken wrote on May 10, 2024, 22:31:
So if I link my account and I own it on PSN, do I get it free on Steam?

Hah, if only. Then the account linking would be worth it, in theory.

So if I link my account and I own it on PSN, do I get it free on Steam?

Japan gaming dev are always suck at PC platform. They are always console/arcade first.

It would still be a win if I don’t need a PSN account to play a Steam game. Hopefully it will eventually play out the same way. PSN has security breaches every 30 seconds

Hellcinder wrote on May 10, 2024, 20:41:
Literacy has nothing to do with this.

roguesix's super power!

Literacy has nothing to do with this.

Yeah this has to be Valve doing this, not Sony. Sony must be pissed even if the blocked countries are only a very small part of their total sales.

Good move to fight the rampant illiteracy among gamers. I don’t even want to know how many idiots from non-PSN countries would have bought this game and then whined about not being able to access the multiplayer. This is how Sony should have done it with Helldivers 2 as well, i.e. region-lock shit *before* the game‘s release.

Sure, the collateral damage is the people from non-PSN countries who would have bought it only for the single player. They can thank their illiterate comrades and the Helldivers 2 whiny brigade for this one.