Unfortunately, the outrage affected several titles with online events or ongoing betas. Destiny 2’s latest dungeon, Sundered Doctrine, saw its World First race hampered due to the outage. The same also applied to Capcom’s latest open beta for Monster Hunter Wilds. At least there’s another weekend to look forward to from February 13th to 16th.

Sony hasn’t revealed the nature of this issue or what caused it but stay tuned for updates. On the bright side, the company has removed mandatory PSN account linking for some of its titles on Steam. Instead, it’s now offering benefits for those who opt for the same, like additional outfits in The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered, Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, and more.

Network services have fully recovered from an operational issue. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank the community for their patience. All PlayStation Plus members will automatically receive an additional 5 days of service.

— Ask PlayStation (@AskPlayStation) February 9, 2025

The list on SteamDB coincides with areas where Sony hasn’t yet begun supporting PlayStation Network. It matches that of the region locking seen in Helldivers 2, which saw a similar move and a wave of controversy when it enforced a PSN account requirement.

It is notable, however, that Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition has no multiplayer component, and enforcing the need for a PSN account is a strange move. However, the most recent change log for God of War Ragnarök indicates that Sony might be getting ready to introduce region locking through a mandatory account.

For context, Helldivers 2 was de-listed from more than 170 countries back in May 2024. This came about due to Sony wanting to enforce PSN account linking for the multiplayer title, but also not supporting the existence of PSN in these countries. Before the region-locking happened, however, there was plenty of backlash from players before Sony backtracked.

Despite this, however, Helldivers 2 has gone on to do quite well, selling more than 15 million copies as of November last year. The game has since seen constant updates fixing issues, re-balancing gear and adding new content, including the Illuminate.

As for the PC release of Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition, you can check out our review, as well as our graphical comparison between the PC and PS5 release. The PC release did well enough to push it into the US best-selling charts when it came out last year.

The practice began controversially with Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2, and though Sony eventually went back on this, it became mandatory for Ghost of Tsushima’s online Legends mode on PC. Titles like God of War Ragnarok and Until Dawn remake also required linking a PSN account, despite being single-player experiences.

Even if it was given with other PlayStation exclusives on PC, Lost Soul Aside seemingly points towards other PC titles under the China Hero Project having similar requirements. We’ll have to wait for further details, of course.

Lost Soul Aside launches in 2025 for PS5 and PC. Check out some more extensive gameplay here.

Full game software sales on PS4 and PS5 reached 53.6 million, down from the previous fiscal year’s 56.5 million. Out of this figure, six million units were first-party titles, a slight decrease from last year’s 6.6 million despite the lack of major launches. Digital downloads comprised 80 percent of those figures, compared to 70 percent year-over-year.

On the bright side, PlayStation Network’s monthly active user count rose significantly from 108 million last fiscal year to 116 million this year. Overall operating income for Games and Network Services is up from $335 million to $443 million, while sales for the quarter rose 12 percent compared to the same quarter last year.

Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut includes the base game, Iki Island expansion and co-op mode Legends. It also marks the debut of PlayStation Network integration and Trophies on PC. Unfortunately, following the PSN-linking controversy with Helldivers 2, Sony has restricted the game’s purchase in multiple countries.

Linking with a PlayStation Network account is required for playing Legends (but not the campaign) and enabling cross-play. However, the latter is currently in the beta stage – you can invite players via PSN and group with them, but PC players can’t randomly matchmake with those on PS4 and PS5. Sucker Punch and Nixxes haven’t indicated how long the beta will last, so stay tuned for updates.

It also revealed that while Ghost of Tsushima Legends will be available for PC players, cross-play is launching into beta. That means you won’t “automatically” match with those other platforms, but you can invite PSN friends (linking Steam with PSN is required for accessing Legends). Cross-play will receive further adjustments in the “weeks following launch.”

Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut is also confirmed to be verified on Steam Deck and other handheld gaming PCs. The “Unsupported” tag is due to Legends requiring Windows for PSN, but single-player, including the Iki Island expansion, is supported. Head here for more details on PC requirements and PlayStation Network features.

Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut is also available for PS4 and PS5. Check out our review here.

The success was attributed to the “growing penetration of the PS5,” alongside the success of Helldivers 2 (which sold 12 million units as of May 5th) and third-party free-to-play titles. Total software sales for the PS4 and PS5 combined reached 72.6 million for the fiscal quarter – an increase of 4.6 million from last year’s 68 million.

Of that total, 12.3 million sales were from first-party titles (with an increase of 2.8 million year over year). Full game software digital downloads accounted for 77 percent of all sales, an increase of seven percent from the previous fiscal year’s quarter. How this will shake out in the current fiscal year, especially with Sony not releasing any “major franchise titles” until April 1st, 2025 remains to be seen. Stay tuned for updates.

Oddly enough, Japan was added to that list before subsequently being relisted. While Sony hasn’t outright confirmed the reason for the delisting, it could be due to Ghost of Tsushima’s co-op mode, Legends, requiring PSN account linking for its multiplayer. Perhaps the company wants to avoid another controversy related to the same.

Then again, PSN isn’t required to access the single-player campaign, arguably the meat of the experience. We’ll need to wait for more details, but it’s a big blow to players in those countries.

Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut launches on May 16th for PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. Check out the system requirements here.

Helldivers 2 purchase restrictions were updated to add Baltics.

Furthermore, Ghost of Tsushima now has the same purchase restrictions. pic.twitter.com/TbXjHzCfwb

— SteamDB (@SteamDB) May 10, 2024

Last week, the company announced that going forward, PC players would have to link their Steam accounts with their PlayStation Network accounts in order to play Helldivers 2. The decision sparked massive backlash from the community, with the game going on to accumulate over 215,000 negative reviews on Steam over the course of the weekend. As fans continued to loudly voice their displeasure, Steam began issuing refunds even to players with a hundred hours of play time in Helldivers 2, while the game was also delisted on the platform in over 170 countries, where PSN isn’t available.

Helldivers 2 director and Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt provided assurances that the studio was “talking solutions with PlayStation”, and now, as many may have expected (or at least hoped), Sony has announced that it won’t be going ahead with its decision to make PlayStation Network logins mandatory for Helldivers 2 players on PC.

“Helldivers fans — we’ve heard your feedback on the Helldivers 2 account linking update,” the company wrote on Twitter. “The May 6 update, which would have required Steam and PlayStation Network account linking for new players and for current players beginning May 30, will not be moving forward.

“We’re still learning what is best for PC players and your feedback has been invaluable. Thanks again for your continued support of Helldivers 2 and we’ll keep you updated on future plans.”

There’s currently no word on how long it’ll be before Helldivers 2 is once again made available for purchase on Steam in the countries where it was delisted over the weekend.

Sony is set to introduce PlayStation Network and Trophies integration in its PC games with a new PlayStation overlay that will debut with the upcoming port of Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut. Ghost of Tsushima itself, however, won’t require a PSN account for those who only wish to play its single-player campaign.

Helldivers fans — we’ve heard your feedback on the Helldivers 2 account linking update. The May 6 update, which would have required Steam and PlayStation Network account linking for new players and for current players beginning May 30, will not be moving forward.

We’re still…

— PlayStation (@PlayStation) May 6, 2024

Over on Twitter, the studio has confirmed that players won’t have to log in to PlayStation Network to be able to play Ghost of Tsushima’s single-player. However, those who wish to play its multiplayer mode, Legends, or access the new, upcoming PlayStation PC overlay, will need a PSN account. Of course, with Legends supporting cross-play, that was probably to be expected.

Amidst the ongoing PSN account linking controversy, Steam has been issuing refunds for Helldivers 2, while Sony has also delisted it on the platform in over 170 countries. Developer Arrowhead Game Studios boss Johan Pilested says the developer and Sony are currently “talking solutions”.

Meanwhile, Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut launches for PC on May 16. Check out its full system requirements through here.

Thank you for your feedback.

Just so you are aware, A PSN account is required for Legends online multiplayer mode and to use PlayStation overlay. It is not required to play the singleplayer game.

— Sucker Punch Productions (@SuckerPunchProd) May 3, 2024