Just in case you were getting anxious about needing a PlayStation Network account to play Marathon – the upcoming reimagined PvP extraction shooter from the Sony-owned Bungie – on PC and Xbox, I have good news – you won’t!
In response to a comment shared on Marathon’s Discord channel in which one user said they were a tad “spooked” by the idea of having to use a PSN login to play, the Marathon team replied with a clear cut and straight to the point message:
“Marathon will not require a PlayStation Account for players on PC and Xbox.”
The conversation around the PlayStation Network – which is an online gaming and media content distribution service – kicked off last year, when Sony announced it would be retroactively making accounts mandatory for Helldivers 2 on PC. At this time, the Helldivers 2 publisher said this was all to do with safety and security, adding it was always meant to be a requirement for Helldivers 2 players on PC, but due to issues at launch, linking was made optional for a period of time.
However, the company’s decision was met with intense backlash from the community, which included the game getting an influx of negative reviews on Steam. Sony ultimately overturned its-then plans to enforce mandatory PSN linking for Helldivers 2 players on PC, and has since softened its PSN stance further afield.
In January of this year, Sony announced it was going to be removing those mandated PSN account requirements from a number of its PC releases, including God of War Ragnarok, Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and The Last of US Part 2 Remastered.
It still wants to give players an incentive to sign up to a PSN account, though. On the PC release of The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered earlier this month, the team at Sony used the promise of 50 in-game points to activate bonus features, along with a new Ellie skin featuring Jordan A. Mun’s jacket from Naughty Dog’s upcoming Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet to entice players to login.
At the time of writing, it is unknown if Sony will do something similar to encourage players to use a PSN account while playing Marathon. We have asked PlayStation for a comment.
As for Marathon, Bungie is hosting a gameplay reveal later this week, which will take place on Twitch and YouTube on 12th April at 6pm UK time.
Bungie – which also makes Destiny – first announced it was reviving Marathon back in May 2023, but very little has been heard about it since.