Update: In less than a week, the creator of NoPSSDK, the mod that lets players bypass the mandatory PlayStation Network log-in needed to play God Of War: Ragnarök on PC, has removed the download for good.
The mod’s removal was noted by Nexus Mods, the website hosting the 1.6 mega-byte download, via X (formerly Twitter).
"That was my personal decision because the mod got too much attention,” the creator, who goes by the online alias iArtorias, wrote in a post. “I thought that it would be better to remove it from public to remove any potential threats from the Sony side (Even though the project never modified anything in memory related to Sony products, but better be safe than sorry).”
For now, PC players who want to play Kratos’ latest adventure must use a PSN log-in.
Original story:
Despite the public outcry every time Sony releases another one of its exclusives on PC, God Of War: Ragnarök is the latest first-party PlayStation game to require a PlayStation Network account to play. And while the majority of PC players have made peace with it (after making their voices heard via Steam user reviews, of course), one modder has found a crafty workaround for those who’d rather enjoy the Norse adventure without handing over their information.
Creator iArtorias has published a mod called NoPSSDK. The small, 1.6-megabyte download is available on Nexus Mods and creates “a tiny library that fully strips the PlayStation PC SDK runtime requirement for God of War Ragnarok.” The mod adds the ability to say no to the PSN sign-in screen when Ragnarök is launched.
Knowing that PlayStation probably won’t take kindly to their mod, iArtorias promises users that they plan to support it for as long as possible.
“I will try to maintain the tool even if something changes,” iArtorias wrote in a Nexus Mods thread about troubleshooting the mod. “But hopefully nothing crucial happens.” iArtorias also writes that he’s looking into making the mod compatible with SteamDeck.
Ragnarök marks the third time this year that PlayStation’s PSN requirement has stirred up controversy among PC players. In May, Helldivers 2 nearly implemented the rule retroactively, before the active player base pressured Sony into walking their plans back. That same month, the Ghost Of Tsushima’s PC port required players to make a PSN account to play because of its multiplayer modes, angering some fans. The publisher has already confirmed the upcoming PC release of 2015’s Until Dawn will also require the account.
Sony says the requirement is a matter of ensuring player security. But there are a few legitimate reasons for the PC crowd’s hostility. For one, PC gaming as a platform is usually free of rules reserved for more closed like the consoles. While Steam has been around for 20 years and has earned players' trust, asking this community to make a second account to play a single-player-only game they already purchased doesn’t sit well with the demographic.
There’s also the fact that PSN is not available in more than 115 countries, including Caribbean nations, parts of Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe. Players who want to enjoy the final chapter of Kratos and Atreus’ journey must use a VPN service to make an account, adding unnecessary friction to the simple process of playing a video game.
As of this writing, Ragnarök has more than 2,300 negative reviews, most of which cite the PSN policy. The top, most awarded positive review links directly to iArtorias’ mod.
Despite the vocal frustration, it seems that most PC players interested in Ragnarök have decided to get along with it. NoPSSDK has just under 2,000 downloads. The game has reached an all-time concurrent peak of 35,000 players on Steam alone, not accounting for players on the Epic Game Store.
While PlayStation surely has its reasons, it seems pretty stubborn to insist on this unpopular feature. While I believe that making a PSN account is a fairly simple task (it takes less than a minute to get your account up and running), it's a publicly embarassing headache that can be easily avoided, particularly for single-player games.
