When Sony revealed as part of their Future of Gaming Showcase sizzle reel that God of War’s sequel was coming, the world went nuts. The 2018 reboot has done wonders for both fans and Kratos, delivering an emotional story in a strange new world. Speculation around the sequel was whether or not it would come to both PS4 and PS5, but it is only today we now have an official answer.
Yes, it is.
In an interview with PlayStation Studios Herman Hulst, the news of God of War would not only be coming to both PS4 and PS5 but that it was delayed out of 2021 and into 2022. A move that makes sense and one that is absolutely the right call. I never believed the sequel would launch in 2021 and it shouldn’t. While the pandemic has set hundreds of games off their development cycles, it’s also given studios the opportunity to be more transparent about the process.
Without that transparency, you’ll have droves of angry ‘fans’ spouting hyperbole but also the support of people who care about the wellbeing of the developers. It’s easier to be honest and upfront about a delay than vaguely hinting at the situation. The decision to delay God of War so that it can be “the amazing God of War game that we all want to play,” is more than fine with me.
“So we have, currently, two very big, very narrative-driven games in development: Horizon Forbidden West and the next God of War. And for both of those, they’re frankly affected by access to performance capture and talent,” Hulst said. “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.
— Santa Monica Studio – God of War Ragnarök (@SonySantaMonica) June 2, 2021
Santa Monica Studio confirms the delay not long after the interview with the head of PlayStation Studios went live on the PlayStation Blog.
Hulst also iterated that Horizon Forbidden West is on track and development is going according to schedule with a holiday release window being assigned to the latest from Guerilla Games.
Furthermore, the interview also confirmed that the once thought exclusive Gran Turismo 7 would be a PlayStation 5 exclusive, that’s not true and is coming to PlayStation 4 when it launches. “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. 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.” said Hulst.
With an active console base of 110 million, you can’t simply walk away from them when a new console launches but you can’t also not give new PS5 owners important showpieces for the new hardware like with Returnal, Demon’s Souls, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.
And if you were worried about PlayStation sticking to known franchises, of the 25 titles currently in development over at PlayStation Studios, half of those are entirely new IPs.
“New IP is incredibly important to us,” Hulst said. “New IP is the lifeblood of gaming. But, new IP is just one aspect of our strategy. Ultimately, I want PlayStation Studios to be fiercely daring, to take risks. I want us to continue to embrace the legacy of PlayStation, pushing the boundaries of gaming, keep making games that matter. Games that, probably, wouldn’t have been made anywhere else.
“And you know, Bend Studio is working on a very exciting new IP that they’re very, very passionate about. They’re building on the deep open-world systems that they developed with Days Gone. So I’m really happy for Bend Studio.”
