While Sony began porting its pile of PlayStation exclusives over to PC in 2020, with Horizon Zero Dawn, the mandatory PlayStation Network account requirement has been a relatively recent addition. The change has been a controversial one for PC gamers, with many disliking the additional account requirement, while a whole swathe of regions are locked out from even purchasing the games.
Sony has been quiet about the requirement for the most part, but Sony president, COO, and CFO Hiroki Totoki made some comments (via GamesRadar) about the PSN changes during a Q&A session of the company"s financial report. An interpreter was being used during he session, which explains the rather awkward language in some areas. However, the quotes the exact statements made by the president during the Q&A.
"The PlayStation accounts that we have offered – well actually, by offering them, for instance, sometimes that tends to invite pushback," says Totoki. "But for the live service games, in order to maintain order of the gaming so that anybody can enjoy the games safely, we need to create an environment conducive to that and, of course, enjoying the game freely."
"Having some restrictions, may not call it rule, but to ask the users and gamers to follow the manner, those manners are very important and we have to continue to seek the best way to achieve this," he adds
Despite Totoki specifically talking about live service games having a PSN account requirement, like Helldivers 2 for instance, Sony has been adding the mandatory login setting to its latest single-player ports too.
The latest God of War Ragnarök port is one of these games, while the upcoming Spider-Man 2 port will also need a PSN account. Sony even pulled the original Horizon Zero Dawn from stores when its remaster landed, which requires an account.