Stellar Blade’s long-awaited PC release is finally coming June 11, but it’s already causing a stir after being region locked in 132 countries and adding Denuvo DRM.
Stellar Blade has been one of the most talked-about PlayStation exclusives over the last year, and fans have been waiting for news on when they’d finally get to play it on PC. That day finally arrived, as Sony and developer Shift Up just revealed that Stellar Blade will officially launch on PC via Steam on June 11, 2025.
But instead of just celebrating, a huge chunk of the community is frustrated, and for good reason.
Stellar Blade Gets Region Lock and Denuvo DRM on Steam
Almost as soon as the PC version was announced, eagle-eyed fans noticed something on the SteamDB listing for Stellar Blade: the game is currently blocked in 132 countries. That’s not a typo. Players in huge parts of Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and even some European countries like Estonia and Lithuania simply cannot buy, view, or activate Stellar Blade on Steam.
Here are just some of the countries where Stellar Blade is currently blocked:
- Morocco
- Afghanistan
- Albania
- Algeria
- Angola
- Antarctica
- Armenia
- Azerbaijan
- Bahamas
- Bangladesh
- Barbados
- Belarus
- Belize
- Benin
- Bhutan
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Botswana
- Brunei
- Burkina Faso
- Burundi
- Cabo Verde
- Cambodia
- Cameroon
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Comoros
- Congo
- Cuba
- Côte d’Ivoire
- DR Congo
- Djibouti
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Egypt
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- North Macedonia
- Pakistan
- Palau
- Papua New Guinea
- Sao Tome and Principe
- Senegal
- Serbia
- Seychelles
- Sierra Leone
- Venezuela
- Vietnam
- Western Sahara
- Yemen
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
You can check out the complete list in the image below.
If you’re in one of these countries, there’s currently no official way to buy or even access the game on Steam. The drama doesn’t stop there, either. Stellar Blade’s PC version is also launching with Denuvo Anti-Tamper DRM. This third-party DRM is meant to prevent piracy, but it’s widely disliked by PC gamers because of concerns about performance drops, hardware limits (the game enforces a five machines per day activation cap), and long-term game preservation.
As for the reason behind the huge block, one theory is that it could be tied to a special “Planet Diving Suit” exclusive skin that players can unlock by linking their PSN and Steam accounts. This feature might have accidentally gone live for the standard version, which could have forced a global region lock as a quick fix.
Adding even more confusion, the official Stellar Blade X (Twitter) account confirmed that a PSN account is not required for the PC version, replying directly to fans’ questions. But their responses also show that the devs seem unaware of the block, repeatedly asking users where they live and saying they’ll look into the issue.
It’s a frustrating situation for a game that a lot of people have been looking forward to. What do you think about Stellar Blade’s region lock and Denuvo DRM? Are you affected? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
