Developer Sony Santa Monica Studio has been immensely quiet about its upcoming sequel to 2018’s universally praised God of War, commonly referred to as God of War Ragnarok. There hasn’t been much to go on ever since the sequel was teased last year at Sony’s PlayStation 5 showcase event. Such silence from the developer of an extremely anticipated title could suggest a God of War Ragnarok delay is on the way.
What adds fuel to such speculation is Jim Ryan’s recently discussion on some of the upcoming first-party PS5 titles. This included titles that already have a release date and the ones whose release windows are known. Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart recently got a release date, and Ryan also seemingly confirmed that Horizon: Forbidden West is still a 2021 title. However, this game was neglected.
Amidst all the exciting updates that fans are getting alongside the latest State of Play event, God of War Ragnarok remains a no-show. One prominent reason, perhaps, is that God of War Ragnarok was revealed way too early. Sony’s PlayStation 5 event was undoubtedly a way to allure fans towards the next-generation of gaming, and what bigger way to excite longtime PlayStation by a logo reveal of the sequel to one of its biggest franchises. Of course, reveal could be too strong of a word, as it was just a tease—nothing more, nothing less. While the 2021 release window may or may not have been a placeholder from Sony’s side, there is enough evidence which indicates that God of War Ragnarok’s 2021 release is highly unlikely.
The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has affected everything and everyone in the last year. The games industry is no different and working from home has made the development process more complex and time-consuming. As such, more and more titles are getting delayed. Sony’s first-party games such as Returnal and Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart have already been delayed out of their initial windows, or at least, seemingly so. God of War was released in 2018, which means God of War Ragnarok could have been in development for over two and a half years at this time. Even if it was in sequel development simultaneously, that wouldn’t add much to it.
The 2018 reboot of God of War took over five years to develop, as was revealed in the God of War documentary that followed the game’s release. Although the game’s director Cory Barlog had revealed that a sequel won’t take as much time to develop as the first game, that doesn’t mean less than half that time either. Despite being developed on the same game engine as its original, such a small amount of time wouldn’t be sufficient to ship a AAA game, especially in the current work-from-home scenario.
Creative director Cory Barlog recently addressed the God of War fans right after the latest State of Play event, saying that the game will be shown “when it’s done.” While this is a pretty textbook reply, it could also mean that God of War Ragnarok isn’t that far ahead in development as one would expect. After all, there hasn’t even been any confirmation on whether Ragnarok is actually the official title or just a placeholder name.
Plus, PS5’s first year is brimming with exclusive titles. Returnal releases in April, Deathloop in May, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart releases in June, Kena: Bridge of Spirit releases in August, Ghostwire: Tokyo releases in October, and Horizon: Forbidden West might release somewhere in between. All these big titles leave little to no room for God of War Ragnarok. Given how there’s a PS5 console exclusive title releasing almost every month till October, releasing Ragnarok alongside any of these titles wouldn’t really fit in the pattern. If PlayStation’s first-party release schedule is any indication, it’s unlikely that Sony would be able to meet a late summer window for God of War Ragnarok, and while the holiday season isn’t impossible, it would seemingly been mentioned a bit more if so.
Like mentioned before, the on-going pandemic has affected everything and everyone around, and the PlayStation 5 is no different. There has been an immense scarcity of both PS5 and Xbox Series X since its release, making the first year of the ninth-generation of consoles a bit tricky. Sony has cited the lack of semiconductors as a prominent reason that’s preventing it from making more PS5 consoles. Although US President Joe Biden has agreed to investigate this PS5 and Xbox Series X component, this problem might not be solved anytime soon.
God of War Ragnarok is, at this point, likely to be a PS5 exclusive title. While there are possibilities that it might be a cross-generational title like Horizon: Forbidden West, there are plenty of reasons to believe that God of War Ragnarok might not come to the PS4. The most prominent of them is that big titles such as these are perfect system sellers. It’s no doubt that 2018’s God of War, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, and Marvel’s Spider-Man are some of the best-selling games of the last-gen that also moved a lot of consoles alongside their releases.
As such, releasing God of War Ragnarok on the PS4 doesn’t make sense from a business point of view. Unfortunately, given how PS5 is still far from being properly available across the globe, it would make sense if Sony pushes its most anticipated next-gen title to a release window where more people would have access to it.
God of War Ragnarok is currently in development for the PS5.
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