According to the SteamDB database, Sony's highly anticipated first-party masterpiece "Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut" will be released on PC on Steam on May 16, but just as it is about to go on sale, there is news that the game has been temporarily removed from the shelves in more than 170 countries around the world and cannot be purchased.
At the same time, some players also found that Japan was still in the first country/region to be removed, and the reason is unknown.
Although Japan has now been removed in time, it still surprised Twitter (X) users.
What these countries have in common is that they can't sign up for a PlayStation Network (PSN) account. This may have something to do with Sony's previous "bundling PSN accounts" policy in Jedi Trooper 2.
The previous noisy "Jedi Submarine 2" binding PSN account incident
Looking back at the previous "Diving 2", the game required players to have a PSN account in order to play at the beginning of its release, which caused widespread controversy. Eventually, the developers relented under pressure from players and removed the PSN account binding requirement for single-player mode.
However, the fact that Ghost of Tsushima has now been removed from the shelves in regions where PSN registration is not available seems to confirm that Sony's intention to continue the policy of tying its games to PSN accounts.
This is undoubtedly bad news for players who live in the region where they were removed.
But fortunately, the country is not on this list.
What's even more worrying is that if Sony insists on this approach in the future, its other blockbuster titles will not be available for purchase in regions that do not support PSN registration, and players in these regions will completely lose the opportunity to play Sony games.
However, a few days ago, developer Sucker Punch also tweeted (X) that Ghost of Tsushima PC's single-player campaign mode does not require a PSN account, and only online multiplayer requires a PSN account.
But now it is still about to start facing the same situation as "Jedi Submarine 2", and for players who have pre-ordered "Ghost of Tsushima" on Steam, the game platform Steam has opened a refund process.
According to the refund note issued by V Company, this is because "the publisher stipulates that the purchase of this game requires registration through an account on another platform, and the service does not support registration in your country or region".
This incident has once again brought back the dark clouds of Sony's forcing PC players to bind their PSN accounts.