God of War Ragnarok PC port can reignite recent Helldivers 2 controversy

God of War Ragnarok PC port can potentially reignite the Helldivers 2 controversy that took the gaming world by storm, and not in a good way. Owing to a mandatory PSN link weeks after the game's release, Sony faced severe backlash and negative feedback from the community, which prompted them to make modifications to the new clause and make it more lenient.

God of War Ragnarok, which is set to receive a PC port and arrive on the platform on September 19, 2024, seems to potentially have a similar PSN requirement, which has already thrown fans in dismay. In this article, we'll look at the details regarding this mandatory link, and explore the possibilities this spells for Sony and the gaming verse.

Note: Some parts of this article are speculative and solely reflect the writer's opinions.

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Does the God of War Ragnarok PC port need a PSN account?

The Sony State of Play (May 2024) finally revealed the launch date for God of War Ragnarok on PC. The game releases for the PC platform on September 19, 2024, and while fans should be hyped, the recent Helldivers 2 incident has cast a cautious shadow over any title with Sony's tag.

After the God of War Ragnarok PC port confirmation, fans scrutinized the official details with a hawk's eye, trying to find the one dreaded requirement clause, and there it was. The announcement video, the Sony blog, and even the Steam Store Page seem to point in a direction where PSN account will be a compulsory requirement to play the game.

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The Helldivers 2 issue with the PSN requirement

Helldivers 2 received a huge surge of negative reviews (Image via Steam)

For Helldivers 2, the overall scenario was drastic, to say the least. Sony's decision to bring in a compulsory PSN requirement for playing the game, around two months after its release, had gamers enraged, which led to a huge backlash online.

This also resulted in Helldivers 2 receiving a sudden surge in "Mostly Negative" ratings on Steam, which then resulted in the storefront allowing refunds for the game, making an exception from its standard refund rules. Basically, one move to make PSN mandatory caused a whole chain reaction, with the major blame going on poor decision-making from Sony.

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Will God of War Ragnarok PC port suffer the same fate as Helldivers 2?

The PSN link isn't all that bad. Let's get that out of the way first. The major issue with it being a mandatory requisite (in any game) is the fact that PSN is not supported in a whopping 118 countries, immediately making the game inaccessible and unplayable to a huge chunk of players.

This PSN linking for God of War Ragnarok PC port can potentially light up this fire once again, and there are a few reasons why. God of War Ragnarok is a single-player game, which should have no real need for PSN linking. If there was a multiplayer mode, it would have made some sense, as we saw with Ghost of Tsushima where only playing online needed the account linking.

God of War Ragnarok PC gameplay revealed (Image via Sony Interactive Entertainment)

What the developers fail to understand is the lack of access to PSN is a part of the problem, and not everyone wants to resort to VPNs to tackle it. A game is meant to be played for fun and enjoyment, and this should be a simple process. Nobody wants to engage in additional shenanigans to play a game. That takes the fun out of it and seems like a forced move.

From that perspective, it seems like a deliberate move from Sony to simply have more traffic on their platform by forcing players, with no solid reasoning behind it. If that is the case, the gaming community will not take it lightly, and we can witness a similar scenario in the God of War Ragnarok PC port, akin to the Helldivers 2 controversy.