As part of its ongoing desire to expand the userbase of PlayStation Network users amongst PC gamers, Sony has now enforced the need for a PSN account Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition on PC. As a result of this move, the game has now been locked out of access for players from a host of different countries.
The list of countries all coincide with areas where Sony hasn’t yet begun supporting with PlayStation Network yet. The whole list, which you can catch on SteamDB, now matches that of the region locking seen in Helldivers 2, which saw a similar move and a wave of controversy when it enforced a PSN account requirement.
It is notable, however, that Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition has no multiplayer component, and enforcing the need for a PSN account is a strange move. The most recent changelog for God of War Ragnarök, for instance, also indicates that Sony might be getting ready to introduce region locking through a mandatory PSN account there as well.
For context, Helldivers 2 was de-listed from more than 170 countries back in May 2024. This came about due to Sony wanting to enforce PSN accounts for the multiplayer title, but also not supporting the existence of PSN in these countries. Before the region-blocking happened, however, there was plenty of backlash when developer Arrowhead Games and Sony had announced that PSN accounts would be mandatory.
Despite this, however, Helldivers 2 has gone on to do quite well, selling more than 12 million copies as of May last year. The game has since seen quite a bit of support in the form of constant updates that fix issues and re-balance gear, as well as the addition if new content, including mech suits that can be piloted by players.
As for the PC release of Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition, you can check out our coverage of the title through our review, as well as our graphical comparison between the PC and PS5 release. The PC release of the game did well enough to push it into the US best-selling charts when it came out last year.