God of War Ragnarok requires PlayStation Network account on PC

Sony's once-console exclusive God of War Ragnarok is coming to PC, but it'll apparently have a controversial twist.

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Today, Sony announced that God of War Ragnarok would drop September 19 on PC. The game's store page on Steam confirms that it'll require a PlayStation Network account in order to play--a move that caused quite significant controversy during the Helldivers II fiasco.

"PlayStation Network Account required, subject to the PlayStation Terms of Services and User Agreement," the page reads.

So...why would Sony require this in a singleplayer game? It's simple: Sony wants to track how many people are playing on Steam. This data is extremely important to the PlayStation brand as it gives Sony more tracking info, and also helps boost total numbers for the combined cross-platform ecosystem.

The news comes shortly after Sony was forced to drop the PlayStation Network requirement for Helldivers II, which would have mandated users to create a PSN handle or lose access to the game they had paid for. Sony predictably reversed this decision and made an exemption for Helldivers II...but that won't be the case for other first-party games.

PlayStation management has expressed interest in continuing to expand to PC, but in a methodical and careful way. PS5 games will come to PC in a measured cadence that gives PS5 owners at least a year of preferred access.

An interesting side note is that Jetpack Interactive helped Sony Santa Monica bring God of War Ragnarok to PC. It was previously believed that this was the case when info was discovered on an employee's LinkedIn page.