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List of countries that cannot make a PSN account, following the Helldivers 2 controversy.
(programming.dev)
The censored one is probably Niger
UPDATE - special thanks to @dditty@lemm.ee for making a map showing the countries without access to PSN:
Wasn't Valve the one who pointed out that Russia was always pirating games not because they were inherently pirates but because the game releases had zero support for Russia lol. Hence why Valve was the first foreign developer/publisher that gained an actual foothold in the Russian market.
This is kind of like the same thing. Sony will just say something dumb like "we don't allow PSN accounts in these countries because they're full of pirates".
The second problem is absence of regional prices in other markets but Steam.
They are selling games two (!!) or so times cheaper in RU region. For example, AAA game might cost 60 dollars or 6000 rub in US but it will costs 35 or 3500 rub in russian steam.
Even though I couldn't afford games in the past and pirated them - at some point I started buying stuff just because it gives much better, hustle -free experience.
If I’m low on cash, I pirate. When I have cash, I buy up the games I want. If it’s a game I enjoyed years ago and it’s on sale, I grab it.
The idea that piracy results in lost sales is flawed. No one I know who pirates can purchase the game to begin with.
Is a library piracy? No? Cool, discussion over.
I mean... Saying that it doesn't result in lost sales at all is disingenuous.
They aren't losing 70 dollars for every download, but they also aren't losing zero.
I often took the same approach back when buying a game was a financial consideration. But even though now 4/5 times I already know hat I'm buying and just pay, there are still the 1/5 times I'll pirate first as I'm really on the fence. Due to this I have a few games I ended up completing on pirate, but bought the game (and DLC if relevant) with 0 hours in my library because good work deserves recognition.
Otherwise we risk losing those good developers to other careers or into the AAA meat grinder.
For clarity I'm talking Indy titties here, I doubt I average much above 0.5/year AAA purchases anymore
Edit: actually I'll go one step further. If I pirate your game and hate it, then its delete and forget. If I buy your game and hate it that's a potential negative review, maybe even though me and that title we just a bad fit. This is why demos need to become ubiquitous again