Sony Game Drops PSN Requirement for PC

Summary

• Lost Soul Aside's PC version has dropped the controversial PSN account linking requirement before its 2025 launch.
• This significantly expands the game's market reach and sales potential, including countries without PSN support.
• Sony's decision might signal a more flexible approach to PSN linking for future PlayStation PC releases.

New evidence confirms that the upcoming Sony-published game, Lost Soul Aside, will not require PlayStation Network account linking for PC players. This eliminates a major hurdle for PC gamers and significantly broadens the game's market reach to regions unsupported by PSN.

Lost Soul Aside, a highly anticipated indie action RPG from the China Hero Project, is developed by Shanghai's UltiZeroGames. Nine years in development, this Devil May Cry-inspired title boasts dynamic combat and will launch on PS5 and PC in 2025, with Sony handling publishing. However, Sony's previous mandate for PSN account linking on PC games drew considerable criticism, as it excluded over 100 countries lacking PSN support, thus limiting sales and player base. Lost Soul Aside appears to be deviating from this policy. Following its December 2024 gameplay trailer, the game's Steam page initially listed the PSN requirement, but this was swiftly removed the next day, according to SteamDB update history.

Lost Soul Aside: A Second Sony Title to Drop PSN Linking on PC

This is welcome news for PC gamers in PSN-unsupported regions eager to play Lost Soul Aside. It also marks a significant shift in PlayStation's PC strategy. The only other precedent for Sony abandoning this requirement was the controversial case of Helldivers 2. Following that incident, PSN linking was assumed mandatory, but Lost Soul Aside's exemption suggests a less rigid approach from Sony.

While the reasons behind this decision remain unclear, it's speculated that Sony prioritizes maximizing the game's player reach. The poor PC performance of PlayStation games following the PSN linking mandate, exemplified by God of War Ragnarök's significantly lower Steam player count compared to its predecessor, might have influenced this change.