Sony wanted to give God of War a much longer rest after previous entry Ascension disappointed critically and commercially. The latest issue of Game Informer reveals that the company needed serious convincing in order to give the franchise another shot. “A lot of people throughout the organisation wanted [God of War] to sleep and rest,” Sony Santa Monica boss Shannon Studstill told the magazine.
It was down to God of War II director Cory Barlog to come up with a pitch that could revitalise interest in the franchise, among both fans and the publisher itself. “Even the first pitches I gave, there was that, ‘You've really got to convince me that we should do another one,’” he explained, referring to the internal temperature for the franchise at the time.
God of War has been a perennially popular property in the United States, but it’s never done particularly well in Europe. It’s also been eclipsed by some of Sony’s other big first-party franchises, like Uncharted and The Last of Us. Barlog believes that this entry will make the series bigger than it’s ever been before. “I want this to reach a lot of people; I want this to be on the level of the Uncharteds and the Assassin's Creeds,” he said. “We want to grow this franchise big time.”
One thing that seems to be holding the game back right now is the reluctance to reveal a release date. The platform holder’s advertising the game, and it’s getting full cover stories – but no one knows when it’s coming out, even though it feels quite close. Unfortunately, the Game Informer article fails to shed any further light on when we can actually expect to experience the title.
It does, however, mention that the future for God of War may be in other mythologies – assuming this entry is a success. “The Greek games were the Greek era of God of War,” Barlog explained. “Moving on, the next mythological belief system he interacts with became the Norse era of God of War. But we may end up going on to the Egyptian era and the Mayan era and so on and so forth.”
Egyptian God of War would honestly be a dream.
[source gameinformer.com, via gamespot.com]
Comments 50
For as much as there are a handful of vocal people who think God of War shouldn't change, I can understand Sony's stance on this. Another "traditional" God of War would have been disastrous IMO. I'm sure it would have been a good game, but I don't think it would have sold well or had much of an impact.
The massive change in direction is a good thing, so kudos to Cory Barlog for selling the top brass on the project and getting it greenlit.
I hope the marketing strategy is going to kick in now that this cover story is out, because we need a date and a lot more info at this point. They're being a little too secretive for my tastes.
if they were going do next god war after this but in another mythological belief system i would like see Japanese era way kratos become a samurai it be cool but we have wait and see what happens in this one but yeh
One of my most anticipated games of the year, I really hope the rumored/leaked March release is true !
God of War has been around for ages, but I haven't really grown tired or soured on it.
I enjoyed Ascension, although a massive let down from 3.
It's interesting. Could Kratos become the ever present face of PlayStation- like a Mario or Zelda?
Just as things get a bit stale throw him into a new mythology & change things up a bit.
@get2sammyb Do you think this will do Uncharted 4 numbers?
@Fight_Teza_Fight Their big challenge is going to be making it big in Europe. Like I said in the article, it's always done well in the US, but it's been a bit bum over here.
TBH, I'd be surprised if it came close to U4, but I still think it can do very well.
Well that explains the huge change in gameplay. I'm going to still give it a shot, but not expecting it to come close to God of War III.
It looks impressive, but I'm not hyped. Third person over the shoulder action adventure with Rpg elements. You'll have your NPC tagging along. Occasionally they'll fall down a hole or something and you'll have to do one or two chapters solo. No doubt it'll be an entertaining play through but it just doesn't get my juices flowing. I'll get it, enjoy it, but like the Uncharted games I doubt I'll keep hold of it or play more than once.
Maybe I'll warm to it more once we get some new info.
Well I'm one European sale (UK). I've always enjoyed the GoW series, even the vita titles. I was so happy to see it return. And my curiosity piqued the moment it was confirmed that it was set in Norse mythology. I hope for a release date soon too, but would much rather have to wait for a complete, unbroken game than have them release it early due to consumer pressure and then have to patch the heck out of it. Keep doing your work Santa Monica, I'll look forward to the day we all get to play. I'm sure it's not too far off now.
@oatmealwarrior92 rumor is not true because March 22 coming out on Thursday. No Games ever come out on thursday.. only Tuesday and Fridaya
@porhawj2016 Thursday... Thorsday... Thor's Day....!
If you're reading this, Santa Monica's marketing department, yes I am available.
After 6 games, I don't think the series had much more mileage in the ancient Greek setting and the gameplay had become rather formulaic, notwithstanding the pretty awesome set-pieces. I enjoyed Ascension, although the combat felt much "heavier". For me, the peak of the series is still God of War 2.
I am anticipating the new one a lot, the change is very good and the Norse setting is cool. I just hope it doesn't ape modern RPG-lite games too much.
I've never been interested in the God of War series, but I admit I'm kinda looking forward to this one, and several other PS4 games dropping this year. Gonna wait until I see reviews to make a purchase decision.
@get2sammyb Uncharted 4 was the perfect storm. I think this will go on to be the best selling GoW.
It has always sold pretty well for an exclusive, but there seems to be added interest this time around.
The E32016 trailer is nearing 20mil views on Youtube.
You know what’s holding God of War back? Kratos.
I think it’s a cool idea to take the franchise in a new direction and to explore other mythologies, but they should have left Kratos in Greece where he belongs.
Give us other “gods” of war. Different people, different stories.
Smartest thing Assassin’s Creed ever did was tying their franchise concept to a design (out of game) and organization (in game) rather than to the face of a headlining character.
Tl;dr: Ditch Kratos and make God of War a franchise with diverse characters and stories across a wide range of mythologies.
I see this coming out later in the year now. There is surely no way Sony would cannibalize the sales of GOW, Ni No Kuni and Yakuza 6 by releasing 3 exclusives in the same week. They would do well to spread their exclusives across the year imo
I sure hope they do some lengthy QA in this one, Ascension had more game breaking bugs than a Bethesda game.
The traditional God of War games would have been met with 'Meh, not interested' from me. I do not like them at all and don't like other games in this genre so its nothing about GoW specifically.
That being said, what I have seen so far has grabbed my attention with only a 'minor' annoyance (the Boy's comments in the last trailer during Combat) BUT it seems I was not alone and the Devs have done something about that.
If you would have asked me before GoW was revealed, would I care if Sony never released another GoW game or would I ever buy one, the answer would have been an easy 'no' to both. Now though, I am tempted to buy this so the decision to change it up has had a big positive impact on me. Therefore Kudos has to go to the Dev team to create interest in people that were not fans of the genre/series.
As with others here, I am interested because it looks different.
I would love to see a Mayan, or probably more Aztec GoW. Lots of cool, bloody gods there.
@Fight_Teza_Fight I don't think any game apart from Last of Us 2 will do Uncharted 4 numbers. Naughty Dog occupy the top 3 best selling 'exclusive' titles on PS4 with U4 leading the way, Last of us (Remastered) next and Nathan Drake 3rd. Not even Horizon:ZD has caught up with Nathan Drake collection - not yet anyway. Of course its difficult to count ALL sales - inc Digital but as it stands right now, those are the top 4.
God of War has a lot to do to match those - not saying it can't but it seems to be one of those games that you love or hate - no middle ground so its whether it's not changed too much to appease the fans and changed enough to capture a wider audience...
Time will tell...
Explains the change. Still don't like it.
Didn't know that God of War is not big in Europe, I wonder why.
The series still has many potential because they can explore many eras. Can't control my hype anymore, I really want to play this game.
Never really been a massive fan of the previous GOW games, but this one has coloured me interested.
@BAMozzy The Last Of Us 2 is the 2nd best selling ps4 exclusive? It's not even out yet! You must have some serious mystic Meg shizz going on. Do you have this week's winning lottery numbers for us?! 😋
Everyone is bugging-out over this game not having a release date but I fail to see why. Right now, we don't know. If SONY announced today that the game releases on ## Month 2018, then what? God forbid they announce a date then have to delay it...the butt-hurt would be astronomic.
@JohnnyShoulder Think he meant The Last of Us Remastered is 2nd position.
@BAMozzy GoW has always sold really well though. Discounting GoW3 Remastered and Ascension, the games typically do 4-4.5 million.
Uncharted 3 did ~7 million lifetime, whereas Uncharted 4 did ~10 million in roughly 18 months.
I think the interest in God of War has never been higher. I really do feel like it's going to do big numbers (on top of being a great game).
While I wasn't a fan of the original God of War (didn't particularly care for the excessive cruelty or the perpetually angry main character), I thought the gameplay was reasonably fun. This... doesn't look fun. This just looks like they're turning it into more of an Uncharted-esque, story-heavy action game.
I hope the people who are excited for this end up enjoying it, but I can't see myself ever getting it.
@JohnnyShoulder LMAO - it was my mistake - I was thinking that the only game that could challenge Uncharted 4 for the biggest selling 'Exclusive' would be Last of Us 2 and mistakenly put '2' instead of remastered - either that or left off the 'nd' as in 2nd... Edited it to (remastered) now... thanks
@Fight_Teza_Fight 4-4.5m would probably be enough to see GoW take 5th spot in the best selling exclusive list and would have to double that to come close to U4. U2 and U3 both sold nearly 7m and then the Nathan Drake Collection sold over 5m
Its possible it could sell 6-7m - it does seem to have caught the attention of gamers that were not fans of the franchise - like I said, its caught my attention and I really do not like the 'franchise' or even that genre of games either so I have to give credit where its due. If it can keep the fans happy with the changes and bring new fans on board because of those changes, then it could easily be in the same ball park as Uncharted 2, 3 and maybe even 4 too. I wasn't being negative but I wasn't being overly optimistic either.
I am hoping for a more story driven game with less of the combo button bashing repetitive nature of the predecessors. I don't mind a bit of that type of combat but not all the onscreen flashy hit counters and combo meters. If it is more like the previous games, then chances are, I won't bother buying it but it looked like it had more depth, more story and less of the arcade, hack and slash, combo-based, button bashing game the franchise has been up until now.
After Guerilla got to walk away from Killzone and delivered Horizon, and Sucker Punch is walking away from Infamous to bring us Ghost of Tsushima, and Insomniac (not a Sony 2nd Party anymore, but still) is stepping away from Sunset Overdrive and Ratchet & Clank to do Spider-Man..... I gotta say, I would rather see Sony Santa Monica do something TOTALLY new instead of just a heavy, heavy reinvention of God of War. That would've been way more exciting.
I mean, it DOES have a lot of "new" going on, from the voice actor, to the focus on narrative instead of gameplay (UGH), to the camera angle, the deliberately paced combat (a la Hellblade and Dark Souls, versus the quicker & flashier skill-based combo-heavy stylish action of a Devil May Cry or Bayonetta like before), not to mention the Norse Mythology now... it's practically a brand new game anyway. But it would've been nice to see them do something completely new. Its a new generation and its time for teams to deliver completely new IP; that's how its done.
But granted, I fell off the GOW train several entries ago, so of course I'd want to see something new.
Just heard an interesting aspect - there is no Jump button anymore and the combat is less chaotic - looks more 'deliberate' more 'souls-esque' with an RPG skill tree and crafting too so another positive from my perspective....
@YummyHappyPills Sony are letting the Devs do what they want - within reason. It was the Devs that wanted to make this game - not Sony and they convinced them this was the project they wanted to work on.
Publishers generally have the final say but if the dev team come up with a design brief and enthusiastically pitch their idea, it can be enough to be green lit to begin full development. I am sure that GG had to pitch their idea to Sony to change direction to a 3rd person open-world action RPG and it was Sony who were unsure of a female lead.
In this case, it seems Santa Monica weren't ready to try something completely new and wanted to make a God of War game. It seems though that they are keeping a 'safety net' of a well known franchise but taking that into new territories - not just in terms of setting either.
I would have preferred a 'new' IP and a departure from the 'God of War' game-play BUT I think this could be different enough to entice me in - someone who is not a fan of the genre of the predecessors.
@ShiggleMan To be fair SSM did try to make a new IP but it got cancelled back in 2014 resulting in most of the team been let go. It's why they've effectively not launched a PS4 game.
@YummyHappyPills Maybe read the article again? Sony weren't keen on another God of War, but Cory Barlog and the SSM team convinced them this is what they wanted to make.
@BAMozzy Ha ha thought that is what you meant. 😎
Didn't realise TLOU Remastered sold that well. Cracking game though so we'll deserved. I think the sequel will give Uncharted 4 a run for its money in terms of sales.
Prefer the combat to be slower as I always find in the faster paced games I end up just button mashing. I know there is a deeper system in there somewhere but I think I find when things get too hectic I start the mashing.
I like that there is no menu system in this and everything is done in game. I also find it interesting that they have made it so it seems like it is all one shot so that you nave have to take your eyes of the screen.
YESSSSs Bring God of War to my country pf Egypt!!!! Let me fight Horus and Set!!!
@YummyHappyPills It really doesn't. What's the budget on a game like God of War? Maybe $30-$40 million? They're not just going to sign them a blank cheque if they don't have a good idea/aren't able to demonstrate they're passionate about it.
This actually supports their ethos because Sony didn't want the game and the team was still able to change their mind by demonstrating why they were passionate about the new direction.
You're really reaching with this one.
@YummyHappyPills I don't care about the bottom line, but you're completely naive if you think a company gives out $30-$40 million without even hearing a pitch. No matter how much money they've got.
GoW story wise always had potential but it was very 1 note and was only there to serve the boss fights. Without going into spoilers, the way GoW 3 ended, it made sense why Kratos fled Greece and headed north. I'm interested in how his actions from those games has changed his character now.
Also I'm not surprised Sony had cold feet after Ascension, if Sony greenlit another typical GoW then it would have got the same reaction as Xbox's own GoW did with it's 4th entry. Regarded as more of the same and playing it safe, which is fine for a lot of games but less good when your meant to be a flagship system seller.
I feel it's unfortunate that people overlook or under appreciate the original trilogy, they were fabulous games at the time and I personally still enjoy them, especially the third game.
I feel it receives a little too much critism regarding Kratos' murderous rage and the misogyny, but that was the character and and the universe. For me, is very much in-keeping with the tone of Greek mythology, there was nothing else like these games at the time, they played fantastically and told a cool story in a cool way.
Having said that, I am not surprised that Sony needed convincing, the series had run it's course but, with the change in direction I think Sony could tell they were onto a winner. Personally, this is amongst my most anticipated this year with TLOU2 and Red Dead 2 the only titles, off the top, of my head that I am more excited for.
Gimme the release date already, I’m getting a little fed up with the secret BS.
It's cool that sony doesn't force its developer to make games sony want, that's why playstation has the most varied output compared to others console maker
@porhawj2016 good point. I hope the March release month is true tho regardless.
@YummyHappyPills Who just gives you money, without some sort of business plan?
Imagine once you get picked up by Nintendo and go to Reggie for $20 million, for a game, no questions asked, the conversation would go something like this...
Why so serious bro? It's just video games.
@RedMageLanakyn nice hyperbole
@Fight_Teza_Fight Lol great gif to prove a point. I have been in sales tenders for projects where that has pretty much happened and we've actually had a business plan and a solid return on investment proposition.
No way Sony just gives out £30-40 million dollars on developing and marketing a AAA game. Maybe for something smaller they might be less insistent but even then. At the end of the day, to secure money a studio has to be able to show a good case that the invested money will be recouped. If they don't perform against that target, then publishers often take action against the studio in some form.
I have always loved God Of War never soured for me & love where they are taking it now.
@dark_knightmare2 In my 10 hour playthrough of Ascension, I can recall the camera getting stuck on the environment half a dozen times which caused a restart, completely freezing my PS3 twice, and Kratos falling through the environment a few times as well.
I played Fallout 4, with mods, for over 50 hours and had the game crash maybe 3 times. Skyrim about the same. It's not hyperbole to me, it's fact.
I've tried to get into the GoW games but they're just not for me. That being said I was obviously a little disappointed when Sony Santa Monica announced another game in the franchise. Feels like they're trying to milk whatever's left from the franchise instead of trying something new. Hopefully this we'll be the last one for a while and they can wow us with a new IP down the road
@Eternallover21 Get GOW 3 mate its dirtcheap BTW Kratos is a real ass in the game.
@YummyHappyPills Still we got Horizon instead of a new Killzone and thank whatever God made this possible. 😀
@BAMozzy Did not hear about the skilltree and the combat but that sounds awsome.
God of war 2 alone was already better than all the Assassin's creed and Uncharted togethet. It is one of the best games of all time imo. I can't wait to play this one!
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