It’s not a huge surprise to see that Stellar Blade has had a successful launch on PC this week, but even Sony executives were pleasantly surprised by just how popular Shift Up’s sci-fi action-adventure has been.
While it’s often good news when a PlayStation exclusive receives a PC port, not everyone around the world has been granted the same access to these titles. Many regions have been locked out of playing titles such as God of War and Helldivers 2, denying players the ability to even purchase the games at all.
Predominantly, the regions that have suffered the most have been in Africa, South America, and parts of Asia, but the hit success of a Korean-made game like Stellar Blade has started to turn the tide.
After receiving a lot of backlash over region-locking games, especially single-player titles which shouldn’t require any online connection, it seems that Sony is willing to lift restrictions to these areas and provide equal access to some of its most popular titles.
According to stats recorded by SteamDB, countries such as Azerbaijan and Bangladesh were recently removed from the list of blocked countries, which includes hundreds of smaller nations. Overall, the changes will potentially provide access to millions of new players across the world, though there are still some exceptions, which include countries such as Syria and Russia.
Stellar Blade managed to rack up almost 200,000 concurrent players within 24 hours of its launch, and the success of the PC port appears to have inspired Sony to recognize the value of their single-player games.
While Stellar Blade’s success has vastly overshadowed the peak numbers for its other titles like The Last of Us Part 2, the move to open up previous titles to these previously locked regions also bodes well for future releases.
Given that the update was applied some 48 hours after Stellar Blade’s launch, it would appear that the move has been a direct reaction to the game’s popularity. Sony has yet to make any official statement on the matter.
Whatever the motivation behind the move, it is certainly news that players in these select regions have been waiting a long time to hear. Now, even players in the Congo and Bahamas will have access to titles including Spider-Man 2, God of War: Ragnarok, and, of course, Stellar Blade.
Posted:
Related Forum: Gaming Discussion
Source: https://www.dualshockers.com/sony-lifts-regional-locks-stellar-blade-pc-success/