‘God of War: Ragnarok’ delayed to 2022
The next God of War game has been delayed to 2022. The PS5 title currently in development was originally planned to launch sometime in 2021.
The news of the delay was confirmed by Head of PlayStation Studios Hermen Hulst in an interview with the PlayStation blog published on Wednesday (June 2).
In response to how the teams at PlayStation Studios have been able to cope and adapt with big challenges over the last year, Hulst explained how specialist locations, primarily performance capture and audio work that involved multiple actors, has been a major hurdle for game development.
The studio currently has two major narrative-driven games in development: Horizon Forbidden West and the next God of War.
“For both of those, they’re frankly affected by access to performance capture and talent,” explained Hulst.
“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.
However, work on the next God of War title, which started a little later, forced them to reassess the planned release date.
“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.
Developer Santa Monica Studios confirmed the delay in a separate Tweet.
— Santa Monica Studio Is Hiring (@SonySantaMonica) June 2, 2021
"Since the release of the next God of War teaser last year, we’ve been humbled by the amount of love our community has shown us. We’re incredibly grateful to see so many people excited to experience the next chapter of Kratos and Atreus’ journey.
We remain focused on delivering a top-quality game while maintaining the safety and wellbeing of our team, creative partners, and families. With this in mind, we’ve made the decision to shift our release window to 2022.
Thank you all for your continued support, we’ve got some exciting things in the works that we can’t wait to show you!" wrote the studio.
While the news of God of War’s delay and uncertainty on the next Horizon title might be disappointing, the PlayStation Studios head pointed out the importance of not sacrificing quality.
“With these things, something’s gotta give. It cannot be the quality of our titles, and it surely won’t be the health of the wellbeing of our amazing team,” said Hulst.
The silver lining (at least for those who haven’t upgraded to next gen consoles yet) is that a PS4 version is also in the works.
In addition to God of War: Ragnarok's revised release date, Sony has confirmed the game will be a cross-gen title, and it will also be making its way to PlayStation 4 alongside the previously announced PS5 version.
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 explained. "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," he stated in the interview.
(Images via Santa Monica Studios)