Sony's New PC Game No Longer Requires PSN Account

Summary

• The PC version of Lost Soul Aside has seemingly removed the controversial PSN account linking requirement ahead of its 2025 launch.
• This change will enable Sony to sell Lost Soul Aside in countries not supported by PSN, thereby increasing the game's overall reach and sales potential.
• Sony's decision to drop the PSN account linking rule for Lost Soul Aside may signal a more flexible approach for future PlayStation PC games.

Recent evidence suggests that Lost Soul Aside, an eagerly awaited title from Sony's publishing lineup, has eliminated the need for a PlayStation Network (PSN) account for its PC version. This adjustment means that PC players of Lost Soul Aside won't need to link a PSN account, significantly broadening the game's availability across regions when it launches in 2025.

Lost Soul Aside has emerged as a standout title from PlayStation's China Hero Project, an initiative aimed at nurturing indie game development. This hack and slash action RPG, inspired by Devil May Cry and focused on "dynamic combat," has been in development by Shanghai-based UltiZeroGames for nearly nine years. Sony, which has financed the game's development, is set to release Lost Soul Aside on both PS5 and PC. However, the mandatory PSN account linking for PlayStation games on PC introduced last year sparked significant backlash from the gaming community.

With over 100 countries worldwide lacking PSN support, this requirement previously limited the sales and reach of PC games with this mandate. However, it appears that Lost Soul Aside will not follow this trend. Following the debut of its latest gameplay trailer in December 2024, the game's Steam page was updated. Initially, it included a mention of the PSN account requirement, but the SteamDB update history shows that this was removed the very next day.

Lost Soul Aside is the second Sony-published game to forgo the PSN account linking rule on PC, following the controversy surrounding Helldivers 2. This development is a welcome relief for PC gamers eager to play Lost Soul Aside, especially those in regions without PSN support. It also hints at a potential shift in Sony's approach to PlayStation games on PC, suggesting a more lenient stance on the PSN account requirement.

While the reasons behind Sony's decision to allow Lost Soul Aside's PC version to bypass the PSN account requirement remain unclear, speculation points to a desire to maximize the game's player base. The performance of PlayStation games on PC has been less than stellar since the introduction of PSN account linking, as evidenced by God of War Ragnarok's lower Steam player count compared to its predecessor.