Ghost of Tsushima players are review bombing the game on Steam following the recent announcement that its online multiplayer mode will require you to link a PlayStation Network account.
This comes as Sony had already been part of another controversy with another popular title, Helldivers 2 when it announced the new, but now reversed, PSN linking requirement. The main problem was that many players either did not want to make one or could not make one.
Ghost of Tsushima's Negative Reviews
(Photo : Sucker Punch Production / Screenshot taken from official website)
Access to PSN is restricted in 177 different countries, many of which have gamers who bought Helldivers 2 and would presumably lose access to the game they bought. After thousands of negative reviews plagued Helldivers 2's Steam page, Sony ultimately scrapped its plan.
However, the damage was done and the goodwill with its player base was lost due to the controversy. Now, players are setting their eyes on Ghost of Tsushima, which is one of the best PlayStation 4 games ever made, according to Forbes.
With the game's release on Steam comes a flood of negative reviews that mostly are not related to Ghost of Tsushima's gameplay or performance on Valve's gaming platform. Instead, they focus on the requirement of linking a PSN account in order to access its online multiplayer mode.
Despite this, Ghost of Tsushima's situation was much better advertised compared to Helldivers 2's sudden requirement. The developers made it known from the onset that the online mode of the game as well as the PlayStation overlay can only be accessed by those with a PSN account linked.
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What seems to be the case here is that if the Helldivers 2 controversy never happened, it is entirely possible that Ghost of Tsushima's PSN requirement may have gone unnoticed. But with what had happened, players' trust in Sony has dipped to a new low.
Furthermore, players were not completely victorious against Sony with the Helldivers 2 debacle as the publisher made the game restricted in 180 different countries and regions. These were all where PSN services were not available, said VideoGamer.
PSN Linking Requirement
On the other hand, the PSN linking requirement for Ghost of Tsushima made sense as the game was originally a PlayStation 4 title that also required a PSN account. However, Sony's latest decision has also made the game restricted in the same 180 countries and regions.
Despite Ghost of Tsushima only being available in select countries that have PSN access, the game already has a review score of just 75%. The Steam page also showed just a little over 1,000 positive reviews and a few hundred negative reviews.
While the game's online multiplayer mode requires a linked PSN account to play, its single-player campaign will be available to anyone who owns Ghost of Tsushima. The developer, Sucker Punch, confirmed early on that this would remain the case at launch.
Despite the growing number of negative reviews on Ghost of Tsushima's Steam page, it seems highly unlikely that Sony will back down this time. This is primarily due to the PSN linking requirement being made clear with a note at the top of the Steam store page, according to Rock Paper Shotgun.
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