God of War. God of War never changes. But the release dates for those games certainly do! The sequel to 2018’s Dad of Boy has officially been delayed, and will now be released in 2022, but here’s the surprise announcement: God of War Ragnarok will arrive on both PS4 and PS5, despite it originally being listed as an exclusive to Sony’s latest gaming device.
In an interview on the PlayStation Blog, head of PlayStation Studios Hermen Hulst said that because of developer Sony Santa Monica Studios having limited access to specialist technology like motion capture equipment, the studio decided to delay the game so that it could continue polishing it up. “And for God of War, the project started a little later,” Hulst said. “So we’ve made the decision to push that game out to next year, to ensure that Santa Monica Studio can deliver the amazing God of War game that we all want to play.”
With these things, something’s gotta give. It cannot be the quality of our titles, and it surely won’t be the health or the wellbeing of our amazing team.
And that’s understandable, as the knock-on effect of the coronavirus and a shift to work-from-home methods is being felt across the gaming industry currently. Numerous titles have been delayed, and even Hulst’s studio Guerrilla Games isn’t certain if Horizon Forbidden West can make the 2021 release date cut. Further in the interview, Hulst said that the team was committed to getting the game out this year but couldn’t make any promises. Which probably means that you can expect Aloy’s latest cheeky adventure to ship in 2022 as well.
“For Horizon, we think we are on track to release this holiday season. But that isn’t quite certain yet, and we’re working as hard as we can to confirm that to you as soon as we can,” Hulst said.
Another interesting tidbit of information was Sony’s new stance on first-party games, as most of them appear to be cross-gen titles on PlayStation consoles now. In addition to God of War and Horizon Forbidden West, Gran Turismo 7 will also be doing a few laps on both consoles. “Where it makes sense to develop a title for both PS4 and PS5–for Horizon Forbidden West, the next God of War, GT7–we’ll continue looking at that,” Hulst said. “And if PS4 owners want to play that game, then they can. If they want to go on and play the PS5 version, that game will be there for them.”
The PS5 may be selling gangbusters right now, but there’s still a massive install base of PS4 owners that Sony can also offer its titles to, to get all that delicious moolah. It makes sense and cents.
Last Updated: June 3, 2021
Original Heretic
June 3, 2021 at 02:57
I’ve got Ragnarok at home, that Norwegian series, with budget Thor.
Gr8_Balls_o_Fire
June 3, 2021 at 03:03
Lol how is that thing? I took a gander at the trailer but it didn’t really pull me in.
Original Heretic
June 3, 2021 at 03:31
I gotta admit, I’ve been enjoying it.
It’s a slow burn, but it keeps me interested. And they don’t come out and just blurb all the info, it’s much subtler.
S2 recently dropped, and I’ve been enjoying it.
It’s cool to see that it’s done by the people who came up with the myths.
Gr8_Balls_o_Fire
June 4, 2021 at 04:05
I like that. It lends more authenticity to it. Something we don’t see too often these days
Original Heretic
June 4, 2021 at 04:38
The only huge negative from my side is the total cliffhanger endings for both seasons!!
Gr8_Balls_o_Fire
June 4, 2021 at 04:40
Isn’t that how every season has to end though? They gotta hook you for the next season