4 ms·

I've always found it ridiculous that Sony is allowed to sell their consoles and games in my county without allowing me to create a PSN account. They even sell t

I've always found it ridiculous that Sony is allowed to sell their consoles and games in my county without allowing me to create a PSN account. They even sell the digital PS5, which REQUIRES a PSN account to get any games. And then, even if you break their TOS and create an account in another country, you're still constantly inconvenienced - you can't pay for games using your local payment method, for example, and a useful Playstation mobile app is not even listed in the local app store. IMO they should either provide the same level of service in all countries, or be forced to charge significantly less when selling their hardware in unsupported countries.

arlcode 2y ago
It's reasonable to ask for that and it would probably be up to a local government agency to enforce such a rule. (In fact Meta's Quest was not available in my country for a few years until Meta changed their mind and removed the need to have a Facebook account as well). To make Sony care about small countries it would be best for them to band together and act as a group on that. It must hurt them economically
- gruez 2y ago
  If Sony doesn't have any presence in those countries, as evidenced by the fact that you can't create PSN accounts for those countries, do those countries even have jurisdiction over Sony? More practically, what leverage do they have to enforce compliance? Meta (Facebook) doesn't have any presence in China, so they can safely ignore any takedown requests from them, even if they are actually violating Chinese law.
_heimdall 2y ago
> IMO they should either provide the same level of service in all countries, or be forced to charge significantly less when selling their hardware in unsupported countries. Who would force the price change though? It seems more reasonable for anyone in a country that doesn't have access to PSN just wouldn't bother buying a PS5 regardless if the price.
- sumeno 2y ago
  I bet a lot of people don't know they can't create a PSN account until after they buy it
  - _heimdall 2y ago
    Totally fair. That's definitely a Sony problem if it isn't clear what countries are supported. I have to assume I'd return the PS5 if I got it home and couldn't make an account. edit: typo
goosedragons 2y ago
Is it actually Sony selling their games or consoles in your country or is it 3rd party sellers who import them from elsewhere because there's demand? It is still shitty and annoying that stuff is geoblocked, be it games, movies, books, etc. But the two are pretty different.
- MichaelZuo 2y ago
  This^ There are so many third party resellers that probably most are unauthorized.
- darby_eight 2y ago
  If you have to distinguish this sounds like a rather twisted conception of property to begin with.
  - gruez 2y ago
    Assuming it's actually sold by unauthorized third party sellers, every step in the chain seems pretty straightforward. People in [country where PSN isn't available] want PS5s. Enterprising people see an opportunity. Sony (or their authorized resellers) in those other countries sell PS5s to the importers because to them you don't need to fill out a KYC form to buy a PS5 so they're they're indistinguishable from someone who's buying one for domestic consumption. The end result is not ideal and the OP acknowledges this, but I'm not seeing where the "rather twisted conception of property" is coming from.
    - darby_eight 2y ago
      > The end result is not ideal and the OP acknowledges this, but I'm not seeing where the "rather twisted conception of property" is coming from. I'm just noting the continued slide from wholly owned property to buying property but only leasing the use of it. I'm sure there are many rights-owners worldwide that are thrilled with this concept.
      - theturtletalks 2y ago
concerned_user 2y ago
There is a screenshot of an email that someone from Ukraine sent to Sony support and their response was that you can create an account using PS5 but not from a PC.
BiteCode_dev 2y ago
A game is just a game. There is nothing vital to it. It's the easiest thing in the world to boycott. And yet, players consistently fail to make the editors pay for their bad behaviors. EA is still craping on their clients. Blizzards fails forward. Loot boxes, DRM, crippling anti-cheat mechanisms, buggy games with expensive DLC and micro payments are everywhere. Sony even infected their customers with a rootkit once. If you keep giving them money despite this, then they have correctly noted they can charge you for their fun system despite the inconvenience. Already more games have been created and published than a human could finish in an entire life. And that's games, not music, movies, series or books. You could just stop buying any new game forever and have an entire life of wonderful gaming experience. Hell, I'm still playing old snes games, or the flash version of isaac. So not buying from an editor? Easy. Stop complaining. Act.
- onli 2y ago
  That's not how this market works. There is no homogenous group of gamers that can act together. Each year there is a new cohort of 11 years old that knows nothing of past publisher behaviour and wants the latest EA game for their birthday. For FIFA with the lootboxes etc there is the added factor that people buying those are for a big part a distinct group to other gamers, there are many guys that only play FIFA or their favorite sport game and nothing else. So bad behaviour in that area does not affect other game sales as much as it should.
  - remram 2y ago
    This makes me so mad. Every time I have to show my nieces or nephews how to play a game, and I have to show them all the fake buttons they have to avoid to manage to play it through the dark patterns. Even Windows, the OS, is full of traps now. You can't buy any software and have it pretend to be yours anymore. Used to be the case for free mobile games at first, now it's everywhere.
    - onli 2y ago
      Just to say: This is avoidable. Ofc one can not give Windows to a child anymore, but there is Linux. For games on Android, of course one can't install games from the Play Store anymore, but there is F-Droid. And for regular PC games, there is still a big selection that works without or with very little micro transactions. And besides, the kids system should not be capable to make any purchases no matter where they click. But I can completely relate that it is infuriating and that it takes a lot of filtering through the mainstream shit to manage this well.

arlcode 2y ago

It's reasonable to ask for that and it would probably be up to a local government agency to enforce such a rule. (In fact Meta's Quest was not available in my country for a few years until Meta changed their mind and removed the need to have a Facebook account as well). To make Sony care about small countries it would be best for them to band together and act as a group on that. It must hurt them economically

gruez 2y ago
If Sony doesn't have any presence in those countries, as evidenced by the fact that you can't create PSN accounts for those countries, do those countries even have jurisdiction over Sony? More practically, what leverage do they have to enforce compliance? Meta (Facebook) doesn't have any presence in China, so they can safely ignore any takedown requests from them, even if they are actually violating Chinese law.

_heimdall 2y ago

> IMO they should either provide the same level of service in all countries, or be forced to charge significantly less when selling their hardware in unsupported countries. Who would force the price change though? It seems more reasonable for anyone in a country that doesn't have access to PSN just wouldn't bother buying a PS5 regardless if the price.

sumeno 2y ago
I bet a lot of people don't know they can't create a PSN account until after they buy it
- _heimdall 2y ago
  Totally fair. That's definitely a Sony problem if it isn't clear what countries are supported. I have to assume I'd return the PS5 if I got it home and couldn't make an account. edit: typo

goosedragons 2y ago

Is it actually Sony selling their games or consoles in your country or is it 3rd party sellers who import them from elsewhere because there's demand? It is still shitty and annoying that stuff is geoblocked, be it games, movies, books, etc. But the two are pretty different.

MichaelZuo 2y ago
This^ There are so many third party resellers that probably most are unauthorized.
darby_eight 2y ago
If you have to distinguish this sounds like a rather twisted conception of property to begin with.
- gruez 2y ago
  Assuming it's actually sold by unauthorized third party sellers, every step in the chain seems pretty straightforward. People in [country where PSN isn't available] want PS5s. Enterprising people see an opportunity. Sony (or their authorized resellers) in those other countries sell PS5s to the importers because to them you don't need to fill out a KYC form to buy a PS5 so they're they're indistinguishable from someone who's buying one for domestic consumption. The end result is not ideal and the OP acknowledges this, but I'm not seeing where the "rather twisted conception of property" is coming from.
  - darby_eight 2y ago
    > The end result is not ideal and the OP acknowledges this, but I'm not seeing where the "rather twisted conception of property" is coming from. I'm just noting the continued slide from wholly owned property to buying property but only leasing the use of it. I'm sure there are many rights-owners worldwide that are thrilled with this concept.
    - theturtletalks 2y ago

concerned_user 2y ago

There is a screenshot of an email that someone from Ukraine sent to Sony support and their response was that you can create an account using PS5 but not from a PC.

BiteCode_dev 2y ago

A game is just a game. There is nothing vital to it. It's the easiest thing in the world to boycott. And yet, players consistently fail to make the editors pay for their bad behaviors. EA is still craping on their clients. Blizzards fails forward. Loot boxes, DRM, crippling anti-cheat mechanisms, buggy games with expensive DLC and micro payments are everywhere. Sony even infected their customers with a rootkit once. If you keep giving them money despite this, then they have correctly noted they can charge you for their fun system despite the inconvenience. Already more games have been created and published than a human could finish in an entire life. And that's games, not music, movies, series or books. You could just stop buying any new game forever and have an entire life of wonderful gaming experience. Hell, I'm still playing old snes games, or the flash version of isaac. So not buying from an editor? Easy. Stop complaining. Act.

onli 2y ago
That's not how this market works. There is no homogenous group of gamers that can act together. Each year there is a new cohort of 11 years old that knows nothing of past publisher behaviour and wants the latest EA game for their birthday. For FIFA with the lootboxes etc there is the added factor that people buying those are for a big part a distinct group to other gamers, there are many guys that only play FIFA or their favorite sport game and nothing else. So bad behaviour in that area does not affect other game sales as much as it should.
- remram 2y ago
  This makes me so mad. Every time I have to show my nieces or nephews how to play a game, and I have to show them all the fake buttons they have to avoid to manage to play it through the dark patterns. Even Windows, the OS, is full of traps now. You can't buy any software and have it pretend to be yours anymore. Used to be the case for free mobile games at first, now it's everywhere.
  - onli 2y ago
    Just to say: This is avoidable. Ofc one can not give Windows to a child anymore, but there is Linux. For games on Android, of course one can't install games from the Play Store anymore, but there is F-Droid. And for regular PC games, there is still a big selection that works without or with very little micro transactions. And besides, the kids system should not be capable to make any purchases no matter where they click. But I can completely relate that it is infuriating and that it takes a lot of filtering through the mainstream shit to manage this well.