Stellar Blade‘s Steam rollout has been mysteriously blocked in countries like Egypt, Vietnam, Estonia, and Cuba.
While there’s been no formal statement on why sales have been blocked in over 100 countries around the world, it’s thought the list broadly matches that of places where PlayStation Network is not available.
But here’s the confusing thing: Stellar Blade doesn’t require players to sign up to PSN to play, which has left players wondering why on earth sales have been restricted.
It’s possible the block comes not because Stellar Blade requires a PSN connection, but because it offers an optional one. Though not confirmed by either developer ShiftUp or Sony itself just yet, some are speculating that it may be because players are invited to sign up via their PSN account to secure an optional skin for Eve.
The game isn’t available in ~130 countries on Steam and Epic Games Store. pic.twitter.com/D79a3HrUut
— Mikhail Shevkun 🐶 (@MWorldII) May 15, 2025
More interestingly still, it seems ShiftUp itself has been surprised by the restrictions. While the team has responded to several unhappy tweets on X/Twitter, asking the complainants where they live, they’ve yet to provide any further information about why the game is blocked in certain countries.
Despite offering millions of fans the chance to enjoy experiences that were otherwise locked behind console exclusivity, Sony has fumbled its rollout on PC, with many players blasting the company for its mandatory PSN connection requirement. It meant that players needed to have an account and link it in order to enjoy their chosen game at all, even if the title was a single-player game like God of War or The Last of Us. The requirement led to backlash from PC players in territories where PSN is unavailable.
The drama first hit the Helldivers 2 community in May last year, when PlayStation announced that Steam users would need to connect a PlayStation Network account to play. The company, however, quickly took back that decision as it reversed course just a few days later.
This has since been further compounded, however, by the fact PSN is not available in some countries, which resulted in Helldivers 2 being delisted in around 177 countries at the time. Most recently, in January 2025, Sony stated it would no longer require players to link a PlayStation Network account to enjoy some of its PC games, and instead offered bonuses for those who do.
The PC version of Stellar Blade launches via Steam on June 11 along with a raft of PC-specific features, including AI upscaling via Nvidia DLSS 4 and AMD FSR 3, an unlocked framerate, Japanese and Chinese voiceover, ultrawide display support, higher resolution environment textures, and DualSense support for haptic feedback and trigger effects.
IGN’s Stellar Blade review returned a 7/10. We said: “Stellar Blade is great in all of the most important ways for an action game, but dull characters, a lackluster story, and several frustrating elements of its RPG mechanics prevent it from soaring along with the best of the genre.”
Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
