PlayStation Network account requirement for PC games

Sony requires a PlayStation Network (PSN) account be made or used for PlayStation games ported to PC and sold on the PC, including games that were solely single-player such as The Last of Us Part II.

Background

The PSN is an account-based service that Sony's PlayStation makes mandatory to use their online services like the console shop, the game achievements or the console's friend service.

Incident

Sony began releasing its games on the digital computer store Steam. Some time later it began to require the addition of a PSN account to be able to access the aforementioned games including those previously purchased, thus changing the terms of access after the purchase.

The fact that at that time 121 PSN did not exist made the option to play the games impossible for millions of users who had already purchased them, such as the popular Helldivers II which at the moment was impossible to play from there.

Sony's response

In January 2025 Sony removed this requirement for some games and instead offered players benefits to use PSN. However the restriction remains for other Sony games such as Until Dawn.

Valve's response

Valve began to refund games on Steam that were inaccessible due to the non-existence of PSN in the user's country regardless of the time played.^{[citation needed (30 Oct 2026)]}

Consumer response

Summary and key issues of prevailing sentiment from the consumers and commentators that can be documented via articles, emails to support, reviews and forum posts.

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See also

• Forced account