Modders remove God of War Ragnarök's controversial PSN requirement on PC
Update 25/09:
Nexus Mods has stated that the author themselves removed the mod from the website following claims that the platform owner had taken it down.
Original article:
Following the PC release of God of War Ragnarök, fans were outraged to discover that the game requires players to sign into PlayStation Network to play the single-player title. However, by modding the game, players have removed the requirement entirely.
The details:
The long-awaited God of War sequel debuted on Steam last week to a wave of negative reviews. Unlike most other poorly received PC releases, most complaints are not about technical issues, but Sony's decision to demand players to have a PSN account to play the game. While multiplayer games like Helldivers 2 and the recently discontinued Concord used PSN for crossplay, Ragnarök is entirely single-player, which raises questions about why it is necessary.
Unsurprisingly, PC players have already found a way around the problem by creating a mod that removes the game's PSN features entirely. Nexus Mods user iArtorias has released "NoPSSDK," which "fully strips the PlayStation PC SDK runtime requirement" from Ragnarök. This not only allows players to skip the login prompt, but it also removes the PSN overlay and prevents errors related to the online service.
The decision to add the requirement to Ragnarök was unwelcome, but expected. Sony began forcing Helldivers 2 players to use a PSN account earlier this year, resulting in the game being delisted in 117 countries and garnering over 100,000 negative Steam reviews. The requirement was eventually removed, but it was still included in Ghost of Tsushima's PC release, albeit only for the multiplayer "Legends" mode.
Other PlayStation news:
Firewalk Studios' Concord reportedly had a development budget of $400 million, with the game's production said to be affected by a culture of "toxic productivity."
Stellarblade, a film production company founded in 2010, is suing Sony and Shift Up over the Stellar Blade game, claiming that it has harmed its business.