Ghost of Tsushima delisted on Steam in over 100 countries

Sucker Punch's Ghost of Tsushima is coming to PC later this week. However, it has been removed from sale on Steam and other PC storefronts in over 100 countries and regions that Sony's PlayStation Network does not serve. This move mirrors the ongoing regional delisting issues of Helldivers 2, which is also unavailable in the same countries and regions.

Notably, previous Sony PC adaptations such as God of War and Horizon Zero Dawn were single-player only and did not require a sign-in to Sony's proprietary online service. However, Sony's latest effort to impose a sign-in requirement to play Helldivers 2 was met with considerable backlash, prompting the firm to undo it.

Apparently, Sony didn't think Steam was accessible in more countries than PSN, possibly locking out users in non-PSN-supported territories from the game they had paid for. Even after Sony overturned its decision, Helldivers 2 is still unavailable in over 170 countries. Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt is lobbying for this to be changed, but the restrictions are still in place at the time of writing.

On the other hand, Ghost of Tsushima is mainly known for its story-driven single-player campaign, which won't require users to login to PSN. Still, a multiplayer mode called Legends was added after the game's original release. Due to this multiplayer mode, the game is being delisted from all regions where PSN isn't available. Ghost of Tsushima will also notably be the first Sony PC game to ship with the new PlayStation overlay, giving players access to various PSN services, like friends, trophies and more. 

As seen on SteamDB, the same purchasing limits imposed on Helldivers 2 can now also be found for Ghost of Tsushima, which lands on PC this week. It would seem Sony's desire to unify the PlayStation and PC experience for its published games outweighs the desire for more sales, pushing into areas where PlayStation has historically not had much presence. 

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KitGuru says: I think what this whole saga makes clear is that Sony needs to support PSN in more countries. Sony has garnered high sales on PC for many titles, partly thanks to making games available in regions where console gaming is less prevalent. People in those countries are likely still going to play those games. Better to have an official store option, rather than forcing those areas to resort to piracy. This will be particularly concerning for God of War, one of Sony's highest-selling PC games. its sequel, God of War: Ragnarök, is now on the way, and if that game is suddenly unavailable in countries where players had previously purchased the original game, then we will likely see a spike in illegal downloads instead. 

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