God of War Ragnarok mod removes Sony’s PlayStation Network requirement
A few days ago, Sony let God of War Ragnarök run free on Steam, nearly two years after its debut on PlayStation 5. However, there’s been a bit of contention regarding the publisher’s insistence that players need a PSN account, even if they don’t have the console version. Or even the console itself.
Still, trust the modding community to come to the rescue. As spotted by DSO Gaming, Nexus Mods user iArtorias released an unofficial tool for the game that allows PC users to boot up Ragnarök without having to sign up for a PlayStation Network account.
The modder says the download is a “tiny library that fully strips the PlayStation PC SDK runtime requirement,” after some players encountered problems with the port of the game. They do make it clear that the mod is not intended to encourage piracy, nor does it “touch or modify any original game code.”
A quick look at the mod’s history demonstrates that it may not be a guaranteed fix for everyone, or at least not a permanent one. A few comments raise issues around sudden curveballs to navigate from Sony, like getting stuck on account linking threads, but iArtoriasUA has since patched the issue. Regardless, as future patches roll out, it’s worth noting Sony may introduce or change requirements that could result in modded PC copies getting locked out.
Sony strikes again with its PSN demands
At the time of writing, God of War Ragnarök has a Steam review score of “mixed.” Indeed, while a lot of people seem pleased with the game, there have been a few comments regarding Sony’s PSN account requirement.
This is also not the first time Sony has come under fire for this tactic. Earlier this year, it was announced that those who wanted to play Helldivers 2 on PC would also need to connect up a PlayStation Network account. There was quite the backlash from the community, and Sony eventually backpedaled on the idea.
As for God of War Ragnarök, developer Santa Monica recently published Patch 2, with the update intending to fix some issues with Nvidia Frame Generation and Reflex, as well as tweaks to the UI. You can see the full patch notes here. The developer also recently announced that Ragnarök has been verified on Steam Deck.
Whether Sony will change its mind about PC players having to link to PSN remains to be seen at this stage, but we saw what happened with Helldivers 2. For now, you may have to use iArtorias’ mod.
