- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.world
Sony’s game publishing arm has done a 180-degree turn on a controversial policy of requiring PC players to sign in with PlayStation accounts for some games, according to a blog post by the company.
Sony hasn’t lost hope that players will still go ahead and use a PlayStation account, though, as it’s tying several benefits to signing in.
The change is a major about-face for a handful of single-player titles after Sony faced considerable backlash from many angry PC players about the PlayStation account requirement to play the games.
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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 bugged 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.
Valve should use it’s position on the market for something good and straight up not allow single player games to use external launchers. I’m buying the game on Steam so I just want to play, not make yet another 3rd party account and then pray the 3rd party launcher will work fine on Linux.
Thing is they’ll then just miss those games or be accused of abusing its market position to be anticompetitive, but I think in general these publishers are getting that we don’t want stupid launchers/extra logins. It happened with 2k and it’s good it’s happening with Sony. Honestly I check before I buy any game if the store mentions a third party account now because that’s so annoying. Especially origin- they are awful and their business is awful.
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!
Enjoy the adventure! Such great games. The Legendary Edition and the SteamDeck is a match made in heaven, except for the piece-of-shit that is the EA launcher/app.
Thank you!
I’ve played through them before way back on the Xbox 360, but Steam had a sale for them a couple of years ago for like $20, so I couldn’t resist getting them for a superior platform.
The EA app is by and large the only thing that truly sucks about these games. I already beat Mass Effect 1 again, and damn is that game boring at times. The story is still great of course, but it definitely shows it’s age! Mods have alleviated most of what I hated (looking at you MAKO…) and now I am about 75% through Mass Effect 2. I’ve beat ME3 before, but it has been so long that I’m hoping it isn’t as bad as I remember.
I played Mass Effect 2 first at the time, because I was renting games from a local video rental place. Loved it to bits. It’s crazy being able to play it with Alec Ryder’s armor from Andromeda. Fits Shep to a T!
Nice, waiting paid off. I’m actually interested in picking up the new God of War and Horizon games now.
Yeah, $10 for a remastered re-play of Horizon doesn’t sound like a bad time tbh…
I honestly don’t think the remaster helps, but I’m a huge fan of the original still. Its not been enough time for a real remaster in my opinion.
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.
Thanks!
Might be worth checking out some comparison videos, some prefer the base game visuals.
Yeah, it’s a $10 upgrade if you own the base game; I got it on sale a long time ago for $14.
I have the base game and didn’t know that, thank you random Internet person! $10 is indeed a good deal.
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.
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.
EA? Plz follow. Mass Effect doesn’t need an account
“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.
For now.
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
Ragnarok is fine if you’re playing on the actual screen. But if you’re gonna hook it up to a monitor, be prepared to see edge jaggies or get lots of frame lag; The SD can’t keep a steady frame rate on anything above Low settings. Low is fine on the built in screen cuz it’s too small to really make a difference. But on a large TV, it makes a big difference.
Maybe there’s a chance those games will come to GOG now that there isn’t the psn requirement.
Glad they came to their senses. I had trouble setting up one as I have/had a sony group account with no security info which is needed to reset the password. Turns out sony doesn’t filter periods from usernames from email. Just ended up adding a couple to my email address for a new account.
Only to add it back once they’ve made their sales
Can’t imagine anyone is going to fall for it
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.
the steam page still shows 3rd party account requirement? or did I read wrong?
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.
