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.
A PlayStation account will “become optional” for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, God of War Ragnarok, The Last of Us Part II Remastered, and Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered. 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.
Logging in with PlayStation will be required to access trophies, the PlayStation equivalent of achievements. (Steam achievements appear to be supported regardless.) It will also allow friend management, provided you have social contacts on the PlayStation Network.
Additionally, Sony is providing some small in-game rewards to each title that are available if you log in with its account system. You’ll get early unlocks of the Spider-Man 2099 Black Suit and the Miles Morales 2099 Suit in Spider-Man 2, for example—or the Nora Valiant outfit in Horizon: Zero Dawn.
Some of these rewards are available via other means within the games, such as the Armor of the Black Bear set for Kratos in Ragnarok.
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.
It’s not the first time Sony has changed course, either. The firestorm of gamer outrage started with an account requirement for Helldivers 2, a team-based co-op shooter that went viral about a year ago. The response was so negative (players review-bombed the game) at that time that Sony ultimately backed down, opting not to enforce the requirement.
This change also comes as some players have taken matters into their own hands: A modder had published a mod to NexusGames that removed God of War Ragnarok‘s Sony account requirement.
There are numerous reasonable justifications even for the end user for requiring a Sony account for an online multiplayer game—for example, it would make it easier for Sony to enforce community guidelines and battle reported harassment in lobbies, and it is the only way to achieve some features like cross-progression. The value proposition for players in a single-player game is a lot fuzzier, though; that’s why Sony is adding some candy with these in-game unlockables to try to entice players to create accounts and sign in.