Marathon won’t require a PlayStation Network account on Xbox or PC

Ahead of the Marathon gameplay reveal on April 12, developer Bungie has promised that folks on non-PlayStation platforms won’t need a PlayStation Network account to play.

“Marathon will not require a PlayStation Account for players on PC and Xbox,” Bungie said in a post to the game’s official Discord channel Wednesday afternoon. The announcement prompted excited emoji reactions from players in the form of dozens of flames, a few hearts, and, inexplicably, a pregnant man. “This is the biggest news for me!” the user who started the conversation said. “It feels like now I can truly feel excited for the game!”

It sounds like a weird concern, needing a PlayStation Network account on Windows PC and Xbox Series X, but players have learned to worry about such a condition thanks to a fiasco last year involving Helldivers 2. Three months after the game launched, publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment informed Steam players that continuing access would require linking a PlayStation Network account.

“Due to technical issues at the launch of Helldivers 2, we allowed the linking requirements for Steam accounts to a PlayStation Network account to be temporarily optional,” Sony’s announcement said. “That grace period will now expire.”

Helldivers 2 players were, naturally, upset by this news. Not only was this requirement an unnecessary hassle, it had the potential to bar folks altogether if they lived in countries without PlayStation Network access. The outcry was so large — perhaps because players were using tactics they learned in-game — that Sony backtracked after just three days. Despite this blip, Helldivers 2 continued to be a massive success.

Fast-forward to today, and it’s obvious why people looking forward to Marathon — which, while not technically published by Sony, is still under the company’s purview due to its ownership of Bungie — were wondering that it might suffer the same fate. But everyone can breathe a sigh of relief knowing they won’t need an account on an entirely different platform if they want to play on Xbox or PC.

Bungie has yet to announce a release window for Marathon, but we may find out more information during Saturday’s stream.