Is a PSN account required for God of War Ragnarok on PC?

The recent PlayStation State of Play finally saw the announcement of the long-speculated PC port of God of War Ragnarok. Following in the footsteps of previous PlayStation PC ports, the sequel to God of War (2018) comes packed with a host of PC-centric features including support for Ultrawide aspect ratios, Nvidia DLSS, AMD FSR, and most importantly, unlocked framerates.

However, there's one thing that has fans a bit puzzled and curious, and that being the game's PSN account requirement. While the trailer that was showcased to reveal the PC release date gave players a glimpse at the game running natively on PC, it didn't really specify whether players would need to use a PSN account to play it or not.

Even the official blog post that PlayStation released after the announcement doesn't have anything regarding the PSN requirement. As such, it's natural for players to be curious about God of War Ragnarok's PSN account requirement on PC.

Note: Parts of this article are subjective and reflect the author's opinions.

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Do you need to have a PSN account to play God of War Ragnarok on PC?

While the PlayStation blog doesn't mention the PSN requirement for God of War Ragnarok, the Steam store page for the game does. Unlike the last few PlayStation PC titles, such as Helldivers 2, Horizon Forbidden West, and Ghost of Tsushima, the upcoming PC ports from PlayStation will require a mandatory PSN login, according to Steam.

Both God of War Ragnarok and Until Dawn, which were showcased in the recently held PlayStation State of Play and are due for a PC release in the next few months, require a PlayStation account. This is even more surprising considering both Ragnarok and Until Dawn are exclusively single-player games.

The PSN requirement for Helldivers 2 and Ghost of Tsushima was understandable considering both these titles feature multiplayer and co-op game modes, with support for cross-play between PC and PS5. However, in the case of the upcoming God of War Ragnarok and Until Dawn PC ports, there's no such reason.

PlayStation and Santa Monica Studio are yet to give any official statement on the PSN requirement of the upcoming PC port of God of War Ragnarok. PSN requirement isn't that big of a deal for players who already have access to PlayStation Network in their region.

However, it is a major issue for players who live in places where PSN isn't natively supported, which essentially blocks them from even purchasing the game on Steam in the first place. The PSN fiasco first started with Helldivers 2, and then spiraled over to Ghost of Tsushima as well. After players voiced their concerns, PSN was eventually made optional for Helldivers 2.

However, with PlayStation seemingly making a PSN account mandatory for upcoming PC titles, it's very likely they might just do the same for existing titles, especially the ones with multiplayer interactivity.

The PSN requirement doesn't seem to hurt the sales of PlayStation PC titles, with Ghost of Tsushima selling really well on Steam. However, it does make it somewhat counterintuitive for players who might not have access to PSN due to their geographical limitations.

And considering PlayStation's previous PC ports worked just fine without PSN, this forced limitation feels incredibly anti-consumer.