I don’t have a PSN account. I was able to log in and play without using a PSN account. At no point was I told that a PSN account would be required to play. My very reasonable assumption. Is that the PSN account requirement was listed for crossplay, or managing socials with PS players. If the game had not worked from day one, or if I had been notified in the game that this was merely a temporary solution, and that I would be unable to play at all in the coming months, then I would have refunded without even trying.
So no, despite what the little label said, PSN account was not required to play the game. It worked fine without the PSN account.
In an ideal world, the requirement would be removed. Since the availability of the game has arbitrarily changed a lot in the last 2 days, Sony should at least offer full refunds and an apology to the community.