Months after the Helldivers 2 fiasco, Sony drops PlayStation Network requirements on PC just in time for Spider-Man 2 and promises free stuff to get people to sign up instead

After nearly a year's worth of PC ports with the controversial requirement that players sign into a PlayStation Network account in order to play, Sony is finally reversing course starting with this week's release of Spider-Man 2.

Today, Sony announced that signing into a PSN account in the PC versions of God of War Ragnarok and Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, as well as the upcoming ports of Spider-Man 2 and The Last of Us 2, would reward players with various in-game items. Slightly buried in that announcement is the fact that you'll no longer be required to sign into PSN in order to play these games at all on PC.

"An account for PlayStation Network will become optional for these titles on PC," Sony confirms. "Players who still opt to sign into a PlayStation Network account will also enjoy added benefits like trophies and friend management."

This doesn't take care of every game that requires PSN on PC - Until Dawn and Lego Horizon Adventures both still require an account - but with both of Sony's major upcoming ports on the list, it seems the publisher is fully changing course on these requirements.

Last May, Sony proposed requiring PC Helldivers 2 players to sign in to PSN, a move that set the community into such widespread revolt that the company quickly changed course. Despite that, PlayStation titles released on PC in the months since have continued to require PSN sign-ins. Sony insists it's a safety boon, but that doesn't really track for all the single-player titles it's affected, and it's cut these games off from players in regions otherwise serviced by PC distribution platforms like Steam.

You'll find several Sony-published titles in our list of the best PC games.