We’ve been of the opinion that God of War needed to change ever since Ascension failed to thrill to the same level as its predecessors, but many have questioned developer Sony Santa Monica’s motive behind the change. Speaking with Glixel, PlayStation Europe boss Jim Ryan has indicated that one of the reasons may be due to the series underperforming outside of North America in the past.
“It's a franchise that has historically acutely underperformed in Europe,” he told the website. “Hack and slash games tend to not do so well in Europe, so the narrative this time around will make a big difference. European gamers love narrative games. And Singstar.”
We’ll find out much more about God of War at E3 2017, alongside a half-dozen or so other titles that the PlayStation maker has already teased. The platform holder’s also indicated that we can probably expect a few Japanese developed titles to put in an appearance, too.
[source glixel.com]
Comments 19
God of Singstar?
Translation: Santa Monica saw how well The Last of Us did and wanted in on some of that.
Makes sense. The franchise needed renewed energy after Ascension looked like it was running out of ideas. MS's GoW was in a similar situation where it had a sort of side step installment that was seen as "meh". The problem was when Gears 4 came out for better or worse it was just more of the same with the general perception that the franchise had seen better days. The same would have happened with God of War but thankfully they've taken it in a different direction.
The original games had some delicious gameplay, so it's sad to see THAT kind of overhead hack-and-slash fall off the map. And DANG IT, I thought there was something MORE to the change in style than a response to analytics...no overarching new vision for the series, just a bigger payday?
Well, it looks really good so far, so I'm still firmly aboard the hype train (just a little more aware of its seams now).
@Orpheus79V Don't be surprised if we see more Western devs start to 'take inspiration from' Naughty Dog's game design over the years.
I'd like to say that the change in gameplay is massively disappointing, but honestly, I never found the GoW series to be terrible appealing to begin with.
I guess he has the data and numbers to back that bold statement of his regarding European gamers tastes, but it's always strange to hear this kind of overarching talk about such a big and diverse market.
Having said that, I totally agree that Ascension was a totally unnecessary game that added nothing to the series as a whole, but, unless the new GoW is awesome in its own right, removing its hack and slash nature is a risky move. It's kinda like turning Devil May Cry into something else entirely. Not sure I'm down with that, but we'll see.
I enjoyed God of War but I didn't love it. I am interested to see how the new game plays as well as how the story unfolds
God of War series was brill. Loved em all ... 3 being one of my fave games ever!!!
Ascension was so disappointing though ... Wasted valuable resources on pointless multiplayer (also see Resi 6 and Dead Space 3) at the expense of a series thats main focus has always been the epic campaigns! Cant wait for this though!! Looks incredible!!!
Changed to Naughty Dog style for money not love.
Im with @Ralizah i need to see how this goes.
@keihtg I don't think it's just a bigger payday. Number of copies sold also reflects how much people want/enjoy a game like that now. Hopefully this is an attempt to modernize the gameplay and deliver something fun that people still want to play.
As long as it doesn't turn into a generic open world gta clone, it should turn out well.
guess i'm one of the few that enjoyed ascension, even if it's not as good as GoW III. i don't like hack and slash games in general, but GoW found the right level of accessibility and playability for me.
will be interesting to see how the radical overhaul pans out..
I'm for the change. I thought the series had got stale and this was needed.
And singstar ? Really ? I mean... For real ? In 2017, are there still people who use their playstation system to sing with buddies ?
Ok, no lie : when Singstar came on PS2, yes we did some great parties with it, totally assuming the dumb fun of this kind of thing (you need beers also, a lot) (but drink with moderation, childs).
But on PS4, who is still singing ?
Super curious to see more. I personally really like the new take on it, and I'm sure that there will still be ridiculous, large scale fights etc. despite the new camera angle and extra narrative oomph. Santa Monica is an extremely capable studio, I have faith they'll deliver
Oh but I thought European gamers love their shooty-footy games, like the top ten proves every week/month. FIFA has no narrative, and GOW games did have narrative. Now, if he means interactive movie, that´s different.
Regarding GOW, not my cup of tea so depending on the change I may like it.
never played them but keen for this one
Not a fan of God of War but the new one really looked interesting. I just hope it is 'different' otherwise I won't buy it...
I didn't think ascension was that bad of a game but definitely did not have the impact of the others
Is it suppose to be open world? I don't know how much I would like a open world GoW. But, who am I!
Shoulda made it souls like, that would be massive. 😀
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