By Nelson Schneider - 05/12/24 at 02:06 PM CT
This past week, Sony revealed that a number of PlayStation Exclusives with Steam ports would require PC players to link a PSN account to their existing Steam account to continue accessing online multiplayer features. The backlash was immediate, immense, and unrelenting, forcing Sony to backtrack on requiring PC players of the inexplicably-popular “Helldivers 2” to have a PSN account (though the upcoming port of “Ghost of Tsushima” will still require a PSN account to access the online cooperative ‘Legends’ mode).
The fact that PC gamers made such a massive stink about requiring linkage to a free PSN account is somewhat surprising. However, a lot of it seems to be driven by the fact that there are many countries on the globe where PSN accounts aren’t available, and PC is generally the default – or, indeed, ONLY – gaming platform in those regions.
My biggest take-away from this episode, though, is that PC gamers will push back against corporate decisions that annoy or inconvenience them far more readily and committedly than console gamers will. If the blowback against linking a free account is severe enough to make Sony eat crow and reverse their decision, then the blowback against the first console-maker to try and force a paid subscription to access basic features on PC will result in thermonuclear meltdown.
Hopefully other big publishers like EA, Ubisoft, and Microsoft are paying attention. The pressure to earn perpetual revenue through recurring subscriptions is high for these corporations, and it wouldn’t be out of character for one, or all, of them to attempt to force the issue on PC gaming. However, PC gaming is where basic online features, and even more advanced Quality of Life features like Cloud save backups, are free, and always have been. Microsoft’s Games for Windows Live utterly failed over a decade ago, but in spite of their immortality, Corporate Persons tend to have really short memories.
