Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Global Communications Director Aram Jabbari announced that the Sweet Baby Inc. influenced God of War Ragnarök port for PC will require a PlayStation Network account in order to play.
A screenshot from God of War Ragnarök (2024), Santa Monica Studio
After announcing the game’s release date on September 19, 2024 as part of Sony’s most recent State of Play video, Jabbari shared more details in a blog post.
Hidden at the very end of the blog post with an asterisk, Jabbari wrote, “*Account for PlayStation Network is required.”
A screenshot from God of War Ragnarök (2024), Santa Monica Studio
READ: Sony Backs Down On PlayStation Network Account Linking Being Required To Play ‘Helldivers 2’
Sony received significant pushback for attempting to require gamers link their PlayStation Network accounts to their Steam accounts in order to play Helldivers 2. In the middle of the night on May 3rd, Sony announced that players would have to link their Steam accounts to a PlayStation Network account in order to play.
They announced in a post, “Due to technical issues at the launch of HELLDIVERS™ 2, we allowed the linking requirements for Steam accounts to a PlayStation Network account to be temporarily optional. That grace period will now expire. See details below in this post.”
“Account linking plays a critical role in protecting our players and upholding the values of safety and security provided on PlayStation and PlayStation Studios games,” the company posited. “This is our main way to protect players from griefing and abuse by enabling the banning of players that engage in that type of behaviour. It also allows those players that have been banned the right to appeal.”
It then declared, “As such, as of May 6th, all new HELLDIVERS 2 players on Steam will be required to connect their Steam account to a PlayStation Network account. Current players on Steam will start to see the mandatory login from May 30th and will be required to have linked a Steam and PlayStation Network account by June 4th.”
Helldivers 2 announcement requiring PlayStation Network linking
Numerous gamers threatened to quit the game following the announcement and players began flooding Steam with negative reviews. The negative reaction to the decision worked in part as PlayStation announced they would not require linking moving forward.
The company posted on X, “Helldivers fans — we’ve heard your feedback on the Helldivers 2 account linking update. The May 6 update, which would have required Steam and PlayStation Network account linking for new players and for current players beginning May 30, will not be moving forward.”
It added, “We’re still learning what is best for PC players and your feedback has been invaluable. Thanks again for your continued support of Helldivers 2 and we’ll keep you updated on future plans.”
PlayStation on X
Following the backlash to Helldivers 2, Sony appeared to offer a compromise with the PC release of Ghost Tsushima. Developer Sucker Punch Productions announced that the game would require a PlayStation Network in order to play the game’s multiplayer mode and get access to its PlayStation overlay.
The company responded to a user on X, “Just so you are aware, A PSN account is required for Legends online multiplayer mode and to use PlayStation overlay. It is not required to play the singleplayer game.”
Sucker Punch Productions on X
Given the negative backlash to Helldivers 2, it’s likely the requirement to link a PlayStation Network account to a Steam account will discourage a number of gamers from purchasing the game.
The game might already have a tough sled to hoe as well given it will likely be listed on the Sweet Baby Inc. detected Steam curator list once it arrives on Steam. The curator currently has 392,314 followers.
A screenshot of Sweet Baby Inc. detected Steam curator list
Currently God of War Ragnarök has 3,663 followers and is ranked #401 in wishlists and is the 47th ranked top seller on Steam according to Steam DB.
God of War Ragnarok Steam data via Steam DB
What do you make of God of War Ragnarök requiring a PlayStation Network account in order to play?
just a ploy to data mine you and track everything you say and do through PlayStation so if they don’t like something you say they can ban you from a game you payed money for simple as that, it’s about control, they would rather loose money to the vast majority of countries around the world that do not have PlayStation network, so they can give the pathetic and untrue excuse that it is “necessary” to be online to play a single player PC game.