Why Sony don't open new regions for PSN?

[Tzyku]

Can someone explain to me why Sony don't open those regions for psn registration? It's something super expensive? Will they lose money from that? What is happening? Why Steam can sell games in my country and SONY can't?!

[Petekaboo 👻 彼卡怖]

Originally posted by Sedgendary:

Originally posted by Petekaboo:

Xbox on PC, despite its name, is built on top of Windows Store instead of the Xbox infrastructure. This has made their PC services available in tons of regions that would otherwise not getting any support at all.

This isn't entirely correct. Both the Microsoft Store and Xbox store have the same back end which is why cross buy is a thing on Windows. Xbox Live has been built into Windows since Windows 10 so the server infrastructure is there where ever Windows is supported, with the only reason for the consoles not being supported is the added cost of selling and supporting hardware

You're right. Thanks for correcting that.

[M.Spengler]

Originally posted by Tzyku:

Originally posted by M.Spengler:

You forgot about network traffic - It works over PSN here not Steam, that´s why you need to login to PSN for multiplayer - You only get the data (gamefiles) from Steam for the installation (game).

Bruh, sony are not a little company! They can manage that if they want to sell games on PC. How even Ubisoft can manage that. I can buy everything I want, but sony can't?

They can but choosed not to do so. I´ve named some possible reasons already.

[Tzyku]

Originally posted by Petekaboo:

First thing first, Steam blocked the games from purchase, if not heavily pressured SIE to block it.

1. Helldivers 2 block only happened after the outraged has started and unsupported regions was made very well known. The block did not occur alongside the announcement of the reinstatement of the requirement.
   
2. Helldivers 2 CEO has confirmed the additional blocking in three countries recently was done by Valve.
   
3. Steam also blocked (many more) unsupported regions of GfWL games unless it was appealed. Smaller developers didn't have the time and energy to appeal, so they released the game on GfW Marketplace first and then the non-GfWL version on Steam later.

As for why they don't expand the regional support, it's because like GfWL, it relies on the same infrastructure of their console counterpart, which is bound by a lot of legality and logistics issues. If they want to expand PSN support, they will also have to expand their console market which is not possible for a variety of reasons.

Xbox on PC, despite its name, is built on top of Windows Store instead of the Xbox infrastructure. This has made their PC services available in tons of regions that would otherwise not getting any support at all.

Edited because of missing text.

I can't buy officialy an XBOX from official store in my country. But there are some where I can find it. After that I can register my xbox account and play. Why I can do that with XBOX and can't with Sony? Xbox also has no infrastructure to import xboxes here, but my region counts. Also, If I buy a sonyplaystation in my country, I can make a psn account in Romania region, and play in my country which in Banned. This is what Sony support said to me. BUT, If I try to make an psn account on my PC, somehow I am blocked. Even if I want to make it in Romania region. How this is working? They don't need no infrastructure to let us make psn. Who said that?

[ℤ𝕚𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕒𝕤]

Originally posted by RevelationSpace:

Originally posted by |-Gaben-|:

it's not sony it's the nations that have very tight laws.
sure sony could do it, but maybe it would cost a lot of money to redo it, so they can't be bothered.
not sure.

It literally costs nothing. You want proof? EA, Ubisoft, Xbox, Rockstar, Epic CDPR, and others all let you create an account anywhere. Including countries that they don't have any sort of presence in.

Ghost of Tsushima is the first time I've ever tried to buy a game but couldn't because of the country I'm in. Every other game I've looked at on PC I could buy.

The answer is simple they sell illegally in most of the regions and doing tax evasion, as they don't have a office or pay taxes, Epic sells in the country of Chad but they never pay any taxes there from people that live there and purchase games on Epic in Chad, laws caught up to them last year in Indonesia and last week in Vietnam, because you need to pay taxes if you want to sell there simply as that.
https://www.theverge.com/2022/7/30/23285091/indonesia-bans-access-steam-epic-games-paypal-yahoo
Steam just got banned in Vietnam for this same reason
https://www.eurogamer.net/steam-is-now-banned-in-vietnam

[Petekaboo 👻 彼卡怖]

Originally posted by Tzyku:

I can't buy officialy an XBOX from official store in my country. But there are some where I can find it. After that I can register my xbox account and play. Why I can do that with XBOX and can't with Sony? Xbox also has no infrastructure to import xboxes here, but my region counts. Also, If I buy a sonyplaystation in my country, I can make a psn account in Romania region, and play in my country which in Banned. This is what Sony support said to me. BUT, If I try to make an psn account on my PC, somehow I am blocked. Even if I want to make it in Romania region. How this is working? They don't need no infrastructure to let us make psn. Who said that?

I think you might be misunderstanding something here. You're not block from making a PSN account on PC, it's the same process as you do with consoles. You are just being blocked from buying the game on Steam. That said, it's a good question that why a few supported regions like Romania and Philippines are blocked on Steam. PS don't have a detailed list of supported regions like Xbox so it's hard to tell what exactly is supported and what isn't.

As for Xbox, I also can't buy Xbox officially. Like you, I still can find the consoles being sold somewhere, but they are imported. I can also use Xbox account and play games, but I can't buy console games with my local account, I have to use my US account for that.

Edit: after checking, it seems like PSN games are available in Romania.

[Lake333GLD]

Politics is a concentrated economy. And vice versa.

[Tzyku]

Originally posted by Petekaboo:

Originally posted by Tzyku:

I can't buy officialy an XBOX from official store in my country. But there are some where I can find it. After that I can register my xbox account and play. Why I can do that with XBOX and can't with Sony? Xbox also has no infrastructure to import xboxes here, but my region counts. Also, If I buy a sonyplaystation in my country, I can make a psn account in Romania region, and play in my country which in Banned. This is what Sony support said to me. BUT, If I try to make an psn account on my PC, somehow I am blocked. Even if I want to make it in Romania region. How this is working? They don't need no infrastructure to let us make psn. Who said that?

I think you might be misunderstanding something here. You're not block from making a PSN account on PC, it's the same process as you do with consoles. You are just being blocked from buying the game on Steam. That said, it's a good question that why a few supported regions like Romania and Philippines are blocked on Steam. PS don't have a detailed list of supported regions like Xbox so it's hard to tell what exactly is supported and what isn't.

As for Xbox, I also can't buy Xbox officially. Like you, I still can find the consoles being sold somewhere, but they are imported. I can also use Xbox account and play games, but I can't buy console games with my local account, I have to use my US account for that.

Edit: after checking, it seems like PSN games are available in Romania.

Yes, PSN is available in Romania. I can play with it here in Moldova. I am not banned or something. That is what Sony support said. But when I pre-ordered on Steam, and my game was refunded, Steam gave me a registration link to psn. When I tried to acces, it said it’s not available. Also If I try to use a vpn, I can register but I will get banned if they spot me.
The consoles I can buy are from official shops, not sony. Before the War in Ukraine, mostly everyone had Russian psn account which was banned after the invasion. When Playstation Moldova community talked to Sony, they said you should make an Romanian account to play. And they don’t get banned. Why I can’t make an Romanian account on PC? How is that working?

[Petekaboo 👻 彼卡怖]

Originally posted by Tzyku:

Originally posted by Petekaboo:

I think you might be misunderstanding something here. You're not block from making a PSN account on PC, it's the same process as you do with consoles. You are just being blocked from buying the game on Steam. That said, it's a good question that why a few supported regions like Romania and Philippines are blocked on Steam. PS don't have a detailed list of supported regions like Xbox so it's hard to tell what exactly is supported and what isn't.

As for Xbox, I also can't buy Xbox officially. Like you, I still can find the consoles being sold somewhere, but they are imported. I can also use Xbox account and play games, but I can't buy console games with my local account, I have to use my US account for that.

Edit: after checking, it seems like PSN games are available in Romania.

Yes, PSN is available in Romania. I can play with it here in Moldova. I am not banned or something. That is what Sony support said. But when I pre-ordered on Steam, and my game was refunded, Steam gave me a registration link to psn. When I tried to acces, it said it’s not available. Also If I try to use a vpn, I can register but I will get banned if they spot me.
The consoles I can buy are from official shops, not sony. Before the War in Ukraine, mostly everyone had Russian psn account which was banned after the invasion. When Playstation Moldova community talked to Sony, they said you should make an Romanian account to play. And they don’t get banned. Why I can’t make an Romanian account on PC? How is that working?

Okay, that's definitely a weird case. I also heard someone in the UK got refunded and cannot buy the game anymore. Not sure how true that was but it seems like something is going wrong here other than being in an unsupported country.

[Kennedy]

Originally posted by Tzyku:

Yes, PSN is available in Romania. I can play with it here in Moldova. I am not banned or something. That is what Sony support said. But when I pre-ordered on Steam, and my game was refunded, Steam gave me a registration link to psn. When I tried to acces, it said it’s not available. Also If I try to use a vpn, I can register but I will get banned if they spot me.
The consoles I can buy are from official shops, not sony. Before the War in Ukraine, mostly everyone had Russian psn account which was banned after the invasion. When Playstation Moldova community talked to Sony, they said you should make an Romanian account to play. And they don’t get banned. Why I can’t make an Romanian account on PC? How is that working?

Maybe they are working all that out currently. I would just wait a couple of weeks. Either they throw PSN out completely or use a huge amount of money, just to set up routes around Russia for those previously connected through there.

[Tzyku]

Originally posted by Kennedy:

Originally posted by Tzyku:

Yes, PSN is available in Romania. I can play with it here in Moldova. I am not banned or something. That is what Sony support said. But when I pre-ordered on Steam, and my game was refunded, Steam gave me a registration link to psn. When I tried to acces, it said it’s not available. Also If I try to use a vpn, I can register but I will get banned if they spot me.
The consoles I can buy are from official shops, not sony. Before the War in Ukraine, mostly everyone had Russian psn account which was banned after the invasion. When Playstation Moldova community talked to Sony, they said you should make an Romanian account to play. And they don’t get banned. Why I can’t make an Romanian account on PC? How is that working?

Maybe they are working all that out currently. I would just wait a couple of weeks. Either they throw PSN out completely or use a huge amount of money, just to set up routes around Russia for those previously connected through there.

That happened two years ago. At this point every user in Moldova with playstation, has an Romanian PSN and it’s working fine. They don’t need to figure that out. If they let me to buy Ghost of Thushima again on Steam and connect it to Romanian PSN, I will be happy. But this is imposibile at this point.

[Breepzz]

Originally posted by Tzyku:

Originally posted by |-Gaben-|:

I mean to pay lawyers to redo their legal paperwork.
not the cost of creating an account.
they would need to redo the legal paperwork for 170 countries.
That won't come cheap.

If its so, of course it will cost them some money. But if they want to expand to pc, they should have solutions to things like that. Why everyone did it, but not Sony

THIS

[Wanda]

Storm in a glass of water here... With the exception of french overseas countries (DomTom), the unavailable countries are the same as those for creating a games account for PlayStation consoles, no one has ever been bothered.

Then, the vast majority of countries are either third world countries, countries at war, or countries under Islamic rules from the Middle East. And we know very well that online games are widely used for the preparation of acts of insurrection or linked to terrorism, this is a way for Sony to limit their responsibilities with regard to such actions. Still remains the question of stable french overseas countries (DomTom), but there must be a reason, at least logistical.

Well, like it or not, given Sony's policy on PC, this had to happen, and if it allows crossplay as is the case with Tsushima, it's a small price to pay.

[Breepzz]

Originally posted by Wanda:

Storm in a glass of water here... With the exception of french overseas countries (DomTom), the unavailable countries are the same as those for creating a games account for PlayStation consoles, no one has ever been bothered.

Then, the vast majority of countries are either third world countries, countries at war, or countries under Islamic rules from the Middle East. And we know very well that online games are widely used for the preparation of acts of insurrection or linked to terrorism, this is a way for Sony to limit their responsibilities with regard to such actions. Still remains the question of stable french overseas countries (DomTom), but there must be a reason, at least logistical.

Well, like it or not, given Sony's policy on PC, this had to happen, and if it allows crossplay as is the case with Tsushima, it's a small price to pay.

Not really
https://twitter.com/PirateSoftware/status/1788981930161266754?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1788981930161266754%7Ctwgr%5Ed950593ea9330e13bf81814c9cbdd490e1c958e0%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.com%2Ffr%2Farticles%2F6308-ghost-of-tsushima-director-s-cut-ne-peut-desormais-plus-etre-achete-sur-steam-dans-177-territoires

[Crow's Eye]

ITT entitled children pretend to understand international and privacy laws.

[longjohn119]

Originally posted by Petekaboo:

First thing first, Steam blocked the games from purchase, if not heavily pressured SIE to block it.

1. Helldivers 2 block only happened after the outraged has started and unsupported regions was made very well known. The block did not occur alongside the announcement of the reinstatement of the requirement.
   
2. Helldivers 2 CEO has confirmed the additional blocking in three countries recently was done by Valve.
   
3. Steam also blocked (many more) unsupported regions of GfWL games unless it was appealed. Smaller developers didn't have the time and energy to appeal, so they released the game on GfW Marketplace first and then the non-GfWL version on Steam later.

As for why they don't expand the regional support, it's because like GfWL, it relies on the same infrastructure of their console counterpart, which is bound by a lot of legality and logistics issues. If they want to expand PSN support, they will also have to expand their console market which is not possible for a variety of reasons.

Xbox on PC, despite its name, is built on top of Windows Store instead of the Xbox infrastructure. This has made their PC services available in tons of regions that would otherwise not getting any support at all.

Edited because of missing text.

Microsoft (Azure) is also one the the Big Three network service providers along with Google and Amazon (AWS) so they have hundreds of server farms worldwide. Sony Entertainment (which includes movies, TV and music) has a market cap of $92 billion. Compare that to Microsoft ( $3 trillion) Google ($2.2 trillion) and Amazon ($2.8 trillion) they are a small fish in a very large pond. Also all three of them have plans to make consoles obsolete by providing online game streaming services and eventually they will.