Sony boss admits forcing PC gamers into PlayStation accounts can "invite pushback," but insists they have to keep games safe

[Puff]

Sony boss admits forcing PC gamers into PlayStation accounts can "invite pushback," but insists they have to keep games safe – which doesn't really track in single-player

Sony president, COO, and CFO Hiroki Totoki acknowledged that the company's plan to push PlayStation Network account linking on famously resistant PC gamers can "invite pushback" – rather, "offering" these accounts, in his words – but the company is sticking to its guns, insisting that it's essential to ensure that "anybody can enjoy games safely."

Via interpreter, Totoki discussed the company's learnings in the Q&A portion of Sony's latest financial call.

"We have learned a lot," he begins. "The way to face the issues regarding PC, for instance. The PlayStation accounts that we have offered – well actually, by offering them, for instance, sometimes that tends to invite pushback. 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." (Despite some translation awkwardness, I've kept the exact wording of this interpreted quote to avoid any potential confusion through paraphrasing, though a smoother version of Totoki's comment here might be: 'I'd maybe not call it a rule.' I would, however, call it a rule, and we're getting to that.)

Sony boss admits forcing PC gamers into PlayStation accounts can "invite pushback," but insists they have to keep games safe – which doesn't really track in single-player

Horizon Zero Dawn remastered is the latest PC game to require a PSN account

www.gamesradar.com

 

[TrishaCat]

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

but horizon isn't a live service game

 

[TrishaCat]

But Sony's insistence on this arrangement suggests that it wants to pump up its PlayStation Network numbers and onboard folks from other platforms however it can – an unsurprising decision for a major platform holder

okay what is the importance of lots of people having PSN accounts
I mean I have a PSN account but why is this a focus like what does it gain

 

[quest4441]

bitch how about putting some form of drm so you dont get cucked by piracy instead of this account for "safety".

 

[Johnic]

Plain astroturfing. 5 different accounts fine, one more bad.

 

[TrishaCat]

bitch how about putting some form of drm so you dont get cucked by piracy instead of this account for "safety".

Far be it for me to promote DRM (I fucking hate DRM) but if "safety" is concern, throw Denuvo on it and leave it there for a few months
would genuinely prefer that

 

[ConcentratedBuffoonery]

"I am NOT making a PSN account to play PS games!" said PC gamer #247 as he logged into his Activision and Rockstar accounts to play COD and GTA V respectively on Steam

 

[Danja]

Fuck em PC games, it's standard industry practice.

 

[TrishaCat]

"I am NOT making a PSN account to play PS games!" said PC gamer #247 as he logged into his Activision and Rockstar accounts to play COD and GTA V respectively on Steam

for the quadrillionth time there are actually a LOT of games on PC that do not require a separate account and you are speaking to a subset of gamer that only plays mainstream AAA slop
and beyond that the issue imo isn't that you have to make an account (I have an account) but that you need to connect to the internet to play a singleplayer game

 

[Zzero]

Plain astroturfing. 5 different accounts fine, one more bad.

If you think that PC gamers are fine with having more than Steam and maybe one other old one at a push (Battlenet, GOG, Minecraft/Minecraft converted into Microsoft) then you are delusional. They absolutely despise Epic for trying to push EGS, they hate Uplay and Origin, hate RSSC, etc.

 

[Old Gamer]

If you think that PC gamers are fine with having more than Steam and maybe one other old one at a push (Battlenet, GOG, Minecraft/Minecraft converted into Microsoft) then you are delusional. They absolutely despise Epic for trying to push EGS, they hate Uplay and Origin, hate RSSC, etc.

They don't take it to the point of going around review bombing and bitching on social media about those other games, do they?

"Yeah, we don't like the other guys either, we just happen to be more quiet about them..."

 

[Ezekiel]

Bring on mandatory PSN account linking to Helldivers 2 with a unified friends list. I want to see who's online before even booting up the game.

Figure out what to do with those unsupported countries and push this through.

 

[ToTTenTranz]

Totoki's idiotic belief that Xbox's defeat means he can simply push through bad perception seasons with sequences of unpopular decisions that only focus on the bottom end are going to damage Sony and the PlayStation brand a lot.

This guy is on track to doing a lot more harm to the PlayStation brand than any other CEO before him.

 

[Zzero]

They don't take it to the point of going around review bombing and bitching on social media about those other games, do they?

"Yeah, we don't like the other guys either, we just happen to be more quiet about them..."

They absolutely do review bomb EGS exclusives.

 

[ethomaz]

That is basically the minimum it can do if they want to put games on PC.

 

[DarkLordOtaku]

but horizon isn't a live service game

*yet

 

[TrishaCat]

*yet

 

[Systemshock2023]

So delusional. Put denuvo for 6 months instead of a log in single player games of you want to protect them

 

[DarkLordOtaku]

Fuck em PC games, it's standard industry practice.

I'm not super impassioned by this subject; however, I do think it's worth mentioning this is at least an uncommon experience for PC gamers.

I have 700+ games on Steam and a handful require secondary launchers or sign ons.

Requiring secondary sign-on for Steam purchases is an exception, not the norm.

Sony also had not been requiring this feature for most of their single player games, as none of the ones I've purchased till now required this.

 

[Killer_Sakoman]

So delusional. Put denuvo for 6 months instead of a log in single player games of you want to protect them

They are a platform not a 3rd party publisher. They either win that market or they are out. That's basically what Totoki want but won't say to you.