For the first few months after it was released, galactic co-op shooter Helldivers 2 could do wrong – and then came the PSN account linking. Sony mandated that players would have to connect their Steam accounts to a Playstation account, and though the publisher eventually u-turned, by that time, a sustained campaign of review bombing had already significantly crushed down Helldivers 2’s all-important user score. It seems that Bungie wants to avoid any similar controversy. Despite being owned by Sony, the Destiny 2 and Halo studio makes it emphatically clear that its new FPS Marathon will not demand that PC players link their accounts.
The Marathon release date may still be a ways off, but we know it’s a competitive FPS game that at least borrows its name – if not its visual style and structure – from the Doom-style single-player shooter that Bungie made in 1994. We also know that Marathon will be an extraction game, similar in setup to Escape From Tarkov, and that it will feature quests and the ability to customize and upgrade your character. Oh, and it won’t force you to link your account.
Responding to a post on the game’s official Discord server, the Marathon development team makes it clear that, whether you’re on PC or Xbox (Marathon will have full crossplay support), you won’t need to link up to the PlayStation Network. “I’m guessing Bungie will just use Bungie.net, but that small chance that they use PSN has me spooked,” one user writes. “Every day gets me excited and I don’t want it to just go away when they suddenly use PSN.”
“Marathon will not require a PlayStation Account for players on PC and Xbox,” the Marathon dev team account says in response.
In January, Sony confirmed that for a variety of its games, PC players would be given the option to link their accounts. Account linking wouldn’t be mandatory for Spider-Man 2, God of War Ragnarok, Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, and The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered, it explained, but players who did connect their Steam and PSN profiles would be given in-game rewards. Some Playstation PC ports however do still require a linked Steam profile in order to play some modes, including Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut and Until Dawn.
If you’re looking forward to Marathon, you might also want the latest on the best upcoming PC games, or maybe some of the best multiplayer games to try in the meantime.
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