God of War Ragnarok release date conspicuously absent from latest PS5 news
Horizon Forbidden West was name-dropped in a recent interview, but what about the God of War sequel?
Sony said the next God of War would be released in 2021 when it was announced in September 2020.
Eight months later, however, we haven’t heard anything about the game since its reveal. And we’re almost at the year’s midpoint. With other major PlayStation games like Gran Turismo 7 pushed into 2022 and the secrecy that still surrounds the sequel to 2018’s God of War, it’s seeming less and less likely we’ll see it in 2021.
Now, a new report from Wired that celebrates the PS5’s success and looks into the system’s future put that release date into question once again.
What happened? On May 12, Wired reported on the status of PS5 as a platform six months after launch. This article featured interviews with notable PlayStation figures like President & CEO Jim Ryan, Head of Worldwide Studios Hermen Hulst, and more developers putting out games on PS5.
The article, as well as the Sony developers, are keen to highlight recently released games like Returnal as well as tease upcoming games like Horizon: Forbidden West, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and Kena: Bridge of Spirits. Yet the next God of War isn’t mentioned at all.
When it comes to upcoming fall 2021 titles, the article mainly highlights Guerilla Games’ Horizon Forbidden West and its DualSense features. God of War‘s absence was quickly noticed.
Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, who reported about internal conflict at Sony in April, chimed in saying, “God of War, on the other hand...” in response to a tweet about the article that Horizon Forbidden West was still coming out this year. As such, fans are now questioning more than ever whether or not the next God of War will be released in 2021.
As no release date or year for the new God of War, or even the game itself, was discussed in that article, it might not be as close as we currently assume. Or, Sony might just not want to talk about one of its biggest upcoming games just yet.
Still, this would have been a great opportunity for Sony to boast about the upcoming title, just like they did with Horizon Forbidden West and Kena: Bridge of Spirits, so why leave it out? If the next God of War is launching this year, it will have a very short turnaround from its full unveiling to its release, which is surprising for a game of that pedigree.
The Inverse Analysis — While a delay into 2022 would be disappointing, there will still be plenty of exciting games to play in 2021. Horizon Forbidden West is a notable and ambitious enough game to be the PS5’s hallmark fall 2021 title. There will also be other games to try, like Deathloop and GhostWire: Tokyo on PS5 and Halo Infinite on Xbox Series X.
As fans, we’ll all ultimately appreciate it more in the end if Sony Santa Monica gives the new God of War some extra development time so it is more polished at launch. And if the game somehow does miraculously launch this year, that’ll make this year even better for PS5.
Regardless of when it releases, Wired also highlighted that there are a ton of Sony-published PS5 games in the pipeline. 25 games of different sizes from several different developers are currently in the works. While nearly half of those will be new IP according to Herman Hulst, fans will be looking forward to new entries in series they love like God of War.
God of War’s sequel is still slated to be released on PS5 in 2021.
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