Upcoming Sony-Published Game Drops PSN Requirement on PC

Summary

• Lost Soul Aside's PC release will forgo the controversial PSN account linking requirement, ahead of its 2025 launch.
• This significantly expands the game's market reach and sales potential, as PSN isn't supported in over 100 countries.
• This decision suggests a potential shift in Sony's approach to PSN account linking for future PlayStation PC titles.

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 dramatically increases the game's potential market reach upon its 2025 launch.

Lost Soul Aside, a highly anticipated action RPG from the China Hero Project, has been in development for nearly nine years by Shanghai-based UltiZeroGames. Sony, the game's publisher, has funded its development for release on PS5 and PC. However, Sony's previous mandate of mandatory PSN account linking for its PC games drew considerable criticism. This requirement barred sales in over 100 countries lacking PSN support, limiting both player base and revenue.

Lost Soul Aside appears to deviate from this policy. Following the December 2024 gameplay trailer, the game's Steam page initially listed the PSN requirement, but this was swiftly removed.

Lost Soul Aside is only the second Sony-published PC game to drop the PSN account linking requirement.

This is welcome news for PC gamers in unsupported regions. The previous instance of Sony reversing this policy was during the Helldivers 2 controversy. Following that, PSN linking seemed mandatory for PlayStation PC releases. Lost Soul Aside's exemption suggests a more flexible approach from Sony.

The reasons behind this decision remain unclear. However, it's speculated that Sony aims to maximize the game's player base. Previous PlayStation PC titles saw reduced player counts after the PSN linking mandate was implemented; God of War Ragnarök, for example, had less than half the Steam player count of its predecessor.