Summary
One thing that really annoys me when I buy a Blu-ray or DVD is the unskippable ads or warnings that play at the start. It’s just useless grind that gets between me and the content I paid for. Well, video games have their own version of this in the form of online accounts.
I Hate the Carrot and the Stick
For example, when I bought the classicDOOMgames for Switch, it seemed to have a mandatory login screen that would not let me play the game unless I logged into a Bethesda account. This “bug” was quickly rectified and the roadblock removed.
Sometimes it’s specifically the multiplayer component of the game that gets locked behind an online account, as was the case withHelldivers IIon Steam, which started requiring a PSN account at one point, though this was reversed later after backlash,
Some games use the carrot rather than the stick, by offering you perks such as in-game items that would usually be paid DLC in exchange for registering and then logging in. This is certainly more pleasant than having content you paid for locked behind a login screen, but again it doesn’t sit right with me to be bribed into yet another account.
Even Sega Is Testing the Waters
I think of SEGA as the king of pick-up-and-play games, but now even they are bringing in the same unnecessary friction to their games that we’ve seen elsewhere. At least it seems pretty optional, for now.
Just Let Me Play, I Beg You
Look, I have no issue with companies offering a game account when there’s a legitimate reason for it. For example, cross-saving only works inCyberpunk 2077if you’re logged into your RED account, and cross-platform multiplayer in Baldur’s Gate 3 depends on a Larian account..
If there are good reasons for it, but it’s also optional, then my complaints are much less vocal. That said, I also feel there’s a slippery slope here, where it starts with an optional account, moves on to a mandatory account for some things at least, and then ends up with yetanotherlauncher I have to install on my computer for a company that sells maybe a dozen games total.
These days playing PC games means installing the game, then waiting for a patch, then waiting for the shaders to compile, and then being prompted to create or log in to an account. At which point, I might just walk over to my PlayStation 2 and CRT TV, switch it on, and be playing something 10 seconds later.
