Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered on PC will require a mandatory PSN account, sparking controversy among players.

[Ducati996]

But Helldivers 2 had the PSN requirement since it opened the Steam page six month before release.
And Helldivers 2 was launched with PSN requirement... those that played day one in the few hours were forced to log in a PSN Account to play it.

The developer choose to disabled the PSN requirement while they mitigate the server issues.
They thought they were helping the player with the server issues.
But players hit them back after.

About Monte Carlo... there is really something wrong (and political) happening.
I can play in Brazil with any PSN Account from any country in the world.

You should not have any issue to play games in Monte Carlo with your UK Account... and I played in my parent's home most of my life... a 7k residents city... on vacations I got my PS there and never had any issue logging into PSN.

I really not getting it... unless the Monte Carlo government is blocking PSN for political reasons you can log into your PSN UK Account and play there.

They certainly did but it was optional, said the exact same thing in the TOS on the PlayStation website, then 3 days before the announcement they changed the TOS on the website to mandatory. If that was the plan all along, then HellDivers 2 should not have been sold in those countries without PSN. The outrage was justified on this point, to the people that would have been affectively locked.

What Government? Monaco is a principality and I think that's the problem unfortunately!

 

[ethomaz]

They certainly did but it was optional, said the exact same thing in the TOS on the PlayStation website, then 3 days before the announcement they changed the TOS on the website to mandatory. If that was the plan all along, then HellDivers 2 should not have been sold in those countries without PSN. The outrage was justified on this point, to the people that would have been affectively locked.

It was not optional.
It was required at launch.

Helldriver 2 was sold in countries without PSN due Steam issues... they had to fix it to Sony.

The whole outrage by people that didn't play the game and didn't even live in the affected countries.
Do you know who was heavy affected by the outrage ?

People that live in countries that doesn't have PSN... before they where playing the game just fine... after the outrage they were forced to refund and could not play the game anymore lol
It was people on rich countries taking business for smaller and poor countries.

Plus... of course it was potencialize by non-PS fans... without them it could not reach the point it reached.
Any other company and you should not even know these issues existed.

What Government? Monaco is a principality and I think that's the problem unfortunately!

Any place has a government (even a small city... here is Brazil it is a Mayor and a number of councilors depending of the population of the city... 7k residents allow you to have 9 councilors)... in this case it is probably a monarchy with a king holding most of political power.

I just meant that something is not right if you can't access your UK PSN Account in Monaco.
Edit - To be fair I did a little check and I could not find anything about not allowing you to use external PS accounts in Monaco... I was really shocked if that was the game I only saw that similar block in China.

Actually Brazil has Twitter blocked... but like I said it is totally a political issue.
And seems like Elon Musk backed in his stance... now he is following the Brazilian's law plus paying the fine and having a representee in Brazil to talk with the government.
Twitter should be unblocked next week if all goes fine.

 

[Ducati996]

It was not optional.
It was required at launch.

Helldriver 2 was sold in countries without PSN due Steam issues... they had to fix it to Sony.

The whole outrage by people that didn't play the game and didn't even live in the affected countries.
Do you know who was heavy affected by the outrage ?

People that live in countries that doesn't have PSN... before they where playing the game just fine... after the outrage they were forced to refund and could not play the game anymore lol
It was people on rich countries taking business for smaller and poor countries.

Plus... of course it was potencialize by non-PS fans... without them it could not reach the point it reached.
Any other company and you should not even know these issues existed.


Any place has a government (even a small city... here is Brazil it is a Mayor and a number of councilors depending of the population of the city... 7k residents allow you to have 9 councilors)... in this case it is probably a monarchy with a king holding most of political power.

I just meant that something is not right if you can't access your UK PSN Account in Monaco.
Edit - To be fair I did a little check and I could not find anything about not allowing you to use external PS accounts in Monaco... I was really shocked if that was the game I only saw that type of block in China.

Mate, it literally was optional at launch and that's where the confusion set in;

PlayStation Website had this before and during launch;

Do I have to sign in to PSN to play a PlayStation game on PC?
Signing in to PSN is optional when playing a PlayStation game on PC.

Then they changed it well after the game launched to;

Do I have to sign in to PSN to play a PlayStation game on PC?

Some PlayStation games and features may require you sign in or link to an account for PSN.

It's these things that caused the outrage. As this also affected me at the time, I was not too pleased. Nothing to do with people from rich countries being outraged for poor countries. I live in Monaco, wealthiest per capita in the world so far from poor country.

Yeah I'm not surprised if using UK PSN is blocked here, even though the store will let me buy any hardware or software. Well, it's not known as a tax haven for nothing

 

[ethomaz]

Mate, it literally was optional at launch and that's where the confusion set in;

PlayStation Website had this before and during launch;

Do I have to sign in to PSN to play a PlayStation game on PC?
Signing in to PSN is optional when playing a PlayStation game on PC.

Then they changed it well after the game launched to;

Do I have to sign in to PSN to play a PlayStation game on PC?

Some PlayStation games and features may require you sign in or link to an account for PSN.

It's these things that caused the outrage. As this also affected me at the time, I was not too pleased. Nothing to do with people from rich countries being outraged for poor countries. I live in Monaco, wealthiest per capita in the world so far from poor country.

Yeah I'm not surprised if using UK PSN is blocked here, even though the store will let me buy any hardware or software. Well, it's not known as a tax haven for nothing

It was not optional at launch lol
It was put as optional few hours after launch.

It was impossible to play the game without sign into a PSN account at launch.

 

[Muddasar]

It was not optional at launch lol
It was put as optional few hours after launch.

It was impossible to play the game without sign into a PSN account at launch.

Exactly.

It literally said PSN account required on the Steam page.

 

[Ducati996]

Again, the point is the confusion leading up to it. Steam said it was required, Sony Website says optional, the CEO even said it was optional directing people to Sony's website for the TOS.
This is why the questions were asked, because people were getting 2 different types of information.

 

[ethomaz]

Again, the point is the confusion leading up to it. Steam said it was required, Sony Website says optional, the CEO even said it was optional directing people to Sony's website for the TOS.
This is why the questions were asked, because people were getting 2 different types of information.

The biggest issue and what lead Sony to back the decision to turn PSN required again was the fact that people that lived in countries without PSN could buy the game with their local Steam account.

It was a issue that doesn't exists on PlayStation because you can't buy the game with an account outside the supported ones.
If you want to play it you have to buy the game with a external PSN account that the law is not applied anymore.

That was the only legal part that could harm Sony.

Steam allowing countries that doesn't have PSN Account support to buy the game to find out they can't create a local PSN account was the issue.
Steam fast fixed it removing the game from countries not supported by PSN (I don't think publishers had that option before).
And Sony together with Steam to not get sued fast refunded everybody in countries outside PSN range.
Plus to get good will from consumers and make them forget the incident Sony allowed to PSN account be option in this game... at the same time they said future games should not change because that issue doesn't exists anymore.

Now it is like PlayStation... you can only buy Sony games on Steam on counties PSN is supported.
Anybody outside these countries need to create an alternative account on Steam (or keep changing countries that is only allowed each 3 months) and PSN for an external country to buy and play it don't having any law rights anymore.

Edit - Just to add people affected by the issues (these that lived outside the PSN countries) never complained because they are already used to play the games that way with multiples country accounts.... they started to felt pain when Sony took the actions to fix the issue that most "gamers" on non-affected countries were making loud claim in the socials networks.

In simple terms non-affected social loud games and media fucked affected gamers... they where forced to refund losing progress in the game and create alternative accounts on Steam (or change the country each 3 months) to play the game again... he could not use it own local account anymore if he didn't change the country to one external one.
That is why most that understand the issues called it "1st world problems" in a sarcastic way lol

 

[Ducati996]

Exactly, it should have been clear from the beginning. The outrage (for the legit people affected) was taking the game away by locking it to PSN requirements months after purchased, played etc.

After that, it has been done right. Ghost of Tsuhima for example, I double dipped for that on Steam and linked my PSN account too with existing trophies from PS4 Pro play time. I knew exactly what was required and made sure I purchased it while in the UK etc. Same goes GoW Ragnorak (even if I disagree with PSN requirement for only single player only games). Still knew what was required and purchased accordingly.

Although weirdly, they are allowing people to not require the PSN login for Ragnorak. Only in countries that can purchase it of course.

 

[ethomaz]

Another thing to add.

Steam as a 3rd-party store just sell the game to every country… all the law issues are on the publishers.

Sony as a platform holders had to deal with each country’s governments… and that is the biggest issue to not have PS Accounts in others countries.

In Brazil Sony only reached a deal with the government in 2010… before that we had no PSN Accounts… my original PSN account is US due that.

Ohhhh and if most countries are like Brazil they regulate PC hardware different from console hardware.

PC hardware here (like Steam Desk) get free pass and even lower tax than console hardware that had a series of regulations and higher tax.

Valve basically get free pass for most issues videogame companies had in the countries they are officially active.

 

[TrishaCat]

Posting this here for no particular reason

Grounded | Patch 1.4.5 Has Been Released

Greetings friends! We have a small patch out today for some changes to the Steam store, you no longer have to sign in with your Microsoft account, but is still required for Crossplay, Shared Worlds,...

grounded.obsidian.net

Obsidian has removed the Microsoft account requirement to play Grounded on Steam.

 

[arvfab]

PC hardware here (like Steam Desk) get free pass and even lower tax than console hardware that had a series of regulations and higher tax.

I think that's the same almost everywhere. It was the reason for OtherOS on PS3.

 

[Thirty7ven]

How is this even a topic anymore?

Eat your vegetables or bounce.

 

[Kokoloko]

Posting this here for no particular reason

Grounded | Patch 1.4.5 Has Been Released

Greetings friends! We have a small patch out today for some changes to the Steam store, you no longer have to sign in with your Microsoft account, but is still required for Crossplay, Shared Worlds,...

grounded.obsidian.net

Obsidian has removed the Microsoft account requirement to play Grounded on Steam.

I wonder why…
Either way MS isnt exactly the best model to follow

 

[uyoung1989]

Another thing to add.

Steam as a 3rd-party store just sell the game to every country… all the law issues are on the publishers.

Sony as a platform holders had to deal with each country’s governments… and that is the biggest issue to not have PS Accounts in others countries.

In Brazil Sony only reached a deal with the government in 2010… before that we had no PSN Accounts… my original PSN account is US due that.

Ohhhh and if most countries are like Brazil they regulate PC hardware different from console hardware.

PC hardware here (like Steam Desk) get free pass and even lower tax than console hardware that had a series of regulations and higher tax.

Valve basically get free pass for most issues videogame companies had in the countries they are officially active.

Sadly this is also the truth in China. Steam created a separated official China storefront to meet the regulations here, while their pc client still has China as a location option. This works as a grey zone that allows most players to access games even including Wukong, which is never on the official Steam China store. This is something both Sony and Microsoft cannot replicate. Their console store is regulated in China. Only approved games can hit the store and no grey zone allowed. This has limited the console market greatly, considering simplified chinese is the most used language for Steam. The Chinese market almost single-handedly boosted the pc market share.