Sony
Sony's decision to require a PlayStation Network login for the PC port of single-player mode God of War Ragnarok is drawing the expected ire from frustrated PC gamers. Now, however, those angry players can do something about it thanks to a new mod that completely removes the game’s PSN login requirement.
The NoPSSDK mod, hosted on NexusMods, promises to “completely remove the PlayStation PC SDK runtime requirement for God of War Ragnarok. “The open source mod uses a simple Microsoft Detours library to bypass the game's calls to the PlayStation Network API without “touching”[ing] or modify[ing] “any original game code.”
The mod, which has already had one update related to offline mode simulation, has been downloaded nearly 2,000 times as of this writing. “I'll try to keep the tool going even if something changes, but I hope nothing crucial happens,” mod author iArtorias wrote in a NexusMods post.
It is not a new problem
Initially, Sony required a PSN account to play the PC version of Hell Divers 2 in May, but backed off that requirement after a few days of widespread complaints among the player base. However, weeks later, the PC release of The Ghost of Tsushima A PSN account is required to access the game's online multiplayer Legends mode.
However, unlike those recent Sony ports to PC, God of War Ragnarok is a single-player game that is played offline, but requires a PSN login to access. It's a difference that thousands of negative user reviews angrily point out on Steam, often with links to the NoPSSDK mod for good measure.
“The game is amazing and I'm really enjoying it, but I can't recommend it in its current state,” reads one representative Steam review. “A single player game that requires you to log into Sony PSN and can't be played offline? Seriously, Sony? Are you serious?”
Sony's PSN requirement, which was announced in May, subjects players to Sony's PlayStation Terms of Service in addition to those of the PC store. The requirement also effectively limits sales of the game to the 70 countries where PSN accounts are available.
PC ports have been an increasingly important part of Sony’s gaming strategy for years now, with 15 high-profile, big-budget titles making the jump from PlayStation to Steam since 2020. “The strategy that we were developing when I was there was that we need to get to where these new customers are, where these new fans might be,” former Sony exec Shawn Layden said in 2021. “We need to go where they are…”