God of War Ragnarök went live on PC yesterday via Steam and the Epic Games Store. While Epic does not have a way of voicing issues with games, Steam certainly does and players are making it clear they do not like the PlayStation Network (PSN) account requirements.
The requirement for needing a PSN Account isn't exactly something that was sprung on players at the last minute. Both Steam and Epic had clear disclaimers on their respective store pages that a PlayStation Network account was required when the game went up for pre-order. Though purely a single player title, God of War Ragnarök is just the latest in Sony's push for requiring PSN accounts on their new PC releases.
Though knowledge of the requirement was known, the process of creating a PSN account has been a huge roadblock for some that have left negative reviews. Here's the top voted negative review from Steam user "Astro."
Creating a PSN account was something I knew was necessary in advance and I was prepared to do so, until I was met with the reality of it.
For UK residents at least, it requires submitting a mobile phone number to verify your age just to start with, and if that fails (which it did, no texts were ever received) your only recourse is to submit a photograph of your face or a government-issued ID to a third party website.
If you're happy with that, go right ahead.
For UK residents at least, it requires submitting a mobile phone number to verify your age just to start with, and if that fails (which it did, no texts were ever received) your only recourse is to submit a photograph of your face or a government-issued ID to a third party website.
If you're happy with that, go right ahead.
Though more rare, some Steam users say that they cannot play the game at all because of the PSN requirement. One review notes that "the PlayStation runtime SDK won't load or install" on systems running Linux. This has also caused issues for those trying to play on Steam Deck, but Steamdeckhq.com says that they didn't really have much of an issue getting Ragnarök to run in their review.
Plenty of Steam users are unable to even purchase the game entirely. Ever since the infamous Helldivers 2 fiasco with PSN, PlayStation titles are not sold in countries where making a PSN account is impossible. This means that God of War Ragnarök isn't even available for purchase in roughly 180 countries around the world. PlayStation hasn't exactly been consistent with their PSN requirement on PC releases since Helldivers 2. While Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut includes a PSN requirement, it's only if you play the online Legends mode. Horizon Forbidden West, a single player title like God of War Ragnarök, did not include a PSN requirement at all. Concord, a purely multiplayer title, obviously included a PSN requirement. The upcoming Until Dawn remake will also require a PSN account, but that one does feature an online component.
