Sony Accidentally Sends God of War Ragnarok PS5 Bundle to Customer

A happy accident

He must be so sad... _

...tough break....

Don't post spoilers online or Cory Barlog will hunt you down and dispense swift justice!

A blessing in disguise?

Stand by for this box to appear on eBay with a thousand buck price tag in three... two...

Alternate headline: "Customer Orders Bag of Garden Manure, Gets Sent Raw Excrement by Mistake".

oh no! human makes a mistake.

the horror

Santa Monica studios will be really hoping these slip ups don’t continue. And with the critic reviews coming Thursday afternoon they’ll be hoping that’s one less thing to think about, providing most if not all think it’s incredible and give it 10’s across the board apart from gamespot of course (they gave the first one a 9), and from the sound their preview that might actually be a 8. Sony too buck your ideas up, one of the biggest game releases of the year and it’s already a bit embarrassing. Sort it. And yes ok human error maybe but with PS5 consoles still hard to come by. Massive industry this.

@freddquadros @paulbuck1996 She*

Lmfao well at least she traded up.

From a garbage fps with a copy and pasted framework with little substance, to another a game with at least some effort in the story and production department even if it is a heavily crippled last Gen game, nearly wholly iterative that does little to advance itself from its 4 year old predecessor.

Sadly though, because we don't actually get a physical copy of the game for 70 friggin dollars anymore, does that not mean that this really isn't a leak of the game per se, and instead it's just the wrong code and system box art lmfao sent. She still can't download the game until release day. Crazy times

They were probably like “Oh no! Anyway…”

@andy24king do you not think that the shortcomings mentioned from GameSpot and Many others, even from a tech standpoint via digital foundry, are invalid? At what point is it just willful ignorance to critcisize any commentary that doesn't align with your opinion of the game you haven't even played yet. Will you shoot down all criticism has even if it has validity? Is anything aside from glowing reviews just someone being negative or biased? How is being positive despite reasons not to be not another form of bias.

In fact, it is. It's called confirmation bias and in science it's the gravest of errors affecting our work.

@KundaliniRising333 Just what exactly do you think SM would have done with GOWR to make it a next gen exclusive? What does that even mean?

Instant transitions between levels? That's a gimmick that can be done with a simple 5 second 'elevator ride' sequence.

Higher resolution or higher frame rate? There are 4 different modes targeting both 4k and 120hz.

More and longer levels? The game was made in about 4 years and was originally supposed to come out a year or so earlier. It was never going to be a massive step up.

So they got upgraded 😉

They got a better game instead

@andy24king it's one console sent out by mistake, it's a bit early for the pitchforks. And she can't even play it yet because it's digital!

@PCGamerInDisguise you're only thinking graphics. The real upgrade between PS5 and PS4 is the CPU so a real PS5-only game could in theory have much smarter, responsive AI and more realistic, complex physics compared to PS4 to name 2 obvious areas of improvement held back by crossplatform development. The real upgrades over last gen will be under the hood. Having said that, imagine GoW in Unreal 5 and with improved AI and physics.

Not even seen these up for sale yet in the UK to order or pre-order.

@riceNpea The game is very cinematic so more complex encounters were never going to be a priority. And I am not just saying that because I looked up some of the leaked footage.

Just how much could they have improved their formula in the original pre pandemic development cycle of ~3 years?

Also, do you really think that slightly better AI would have been a bigger selling point than 'it's available for the 100m PS4s out there'? lol

I wouldn’t assume a digital code would automatically translate into a pre-order. The only time I’ve managed to get a digital code early what is Yooka-Laylee and that let me play the game early rather than turning into a pre-order.

Given that they send digital codes to reviewers. They would have to have a mechanism to distinguish between review and retail codes. If they wanted leaked retail codes to become pre-orders and not grant early access.

Bit of luck, from arguably the worst cod release in years to what I imagine will be a GOTY contender in GOW

@Ryall The mechanism is that while you can have a code for the PS Store to use, it may not have been activated yet. Codes Sony sends out to reviewers are activated by them and can be redeemed, thus triggering a download. Presumably, codes for retail — like this one — will be activated later on.

Hopefully Cory Barlog has walked into Jim Ryan’s office today to give him an ear full!!

No big deal if she likes GoW I guess.

@riceNpea Enemy AI are mostly brainless in GoW, they are just there to be smacked. And last I heard, your partner is still running in front of enemies while sneaking in TLOUPT1 supposedly built from the ground up on PS5. Part2 on PS4 doesn't have your partner running in full glare of enemies in sneak mode. It's all just down to the devs if they wanna bother with advancements and not some "holding back" theories.

Hardly a bad screw up

I’m sure they’ll just send him the code for MW

A bad screw up would’ve been a box filled with kitty litter

@PCGamerInDisguise it's kind of tough to know where to begin in responding to you here because there are literally so many things that could be improved upon had they not made this the last gen specific game. Water Quality, atmosphere effects, traversal limitations, definitely level design for sure less corridors less repetition less of that long distance background blur just so much dude, the lighting in the the first one is pretty poor.

It's not just a matter of resolution and framerate. There were obvious design constraints they made in the first in order to achieve the fidelity they did on last Gen hardware.

I'm not sure when you last played the 2018 game, but if you don't see areas of improvement that could have been had 4+ years later,... Well then I don't know what to tell you. Your bias is simply to strong to hope for improvement on something that you enjoyed at the time, and having simply more of it appeased you and you know what, That's perfectly ok.

That's what comments are for just to give your opinion on topics discussed, period. They don't all have to be Rosy and cheerleaderish and they don't all have to be negative they can simply just be your honest opinion. While I may differ from yours, I respect your opinion.

@PCGamerInDisguise why would it only be slightly better AI? With better CPUs there's the prospect of AI that can learn human behaviours and tactics, be unpredictable and so on.

All saying is that when you don't have to cross platform develop PS5 has the horsepower for devs to use to make a real difference to a game that's possible on a PS4.

Of course, that all depends of the will of the dev, but in the future AI and real world physics will be what sells games as games already look pretty photorealistic.

@TheArt it's down to the devs and it's down to the restrictions of the hardware. AI in games has barely advanced over the decades. Look at how much the graphics have improved the last 20 years. AI is practically at the same level because the hardware for it has stagnated whilst priority has been on graphics output.

That's like ordering McDonald's and receiving wagyuu beef from a cow breed that doesn't yet exist.

@KundaliniRising333 I am pretty sure no one within Sony or SM would have preferred to improve water quality over making the game playable on the PS4. AC is the same game over and over again and the latest entry has been played by 20m people.

@riceNpea Oh you sweet summer child. I honestly tought that during the 8th console gen graphics were already good enough and soon customers will demand depth and complexity, but 9 years later that still hasn't happened. And probably never will. If you want depth replay the original Deus Ex once a year like the rest of us.

There are 0 good reasons this game shouldn't have been crossgen.

@riceNpea well you have to take in account that consoles are still hardware with limited resources. Even with RTX capable consoles now CPU is still utilized for calculations. So it's up to the developers how they will manage the hardware resources at their disposal. And x86 unlike ARM SOC still don't have AI acceleration built in to them. Sony could have made a costume unit same as they did for streaming compressed data and sound but this would have made the console much more expensive. Here's hoping for PS6

@riceNpea No doubt obviously there would've been improvements but like @PCGamerInDisguise said: "no one within Sony or SM would have preferred to improve water quality over making the game playable on the PS4." And there's the fact that development started on PS4 and the fact that GoW2018 still looks and plays better than most games, improvements isn't really top priority. So let's not make it seem the PS4 has legs and hands walking around forcibly holding things back.

@Gaia093 lol

My processor is still trying to understand this

But I like it

S**t happens. Companies have done this many times.

@KundaliniRising333 'It's not just a matter of resolution and framerate. There were obvious design constraints they made in the first in order to achieve the fidelity they did on last Gen hardware.' you mean when PS4 was current gen & there weren't any ps5 devkits 🤡🤣

@gaia093 - are you sure wagyu isn’t already the breed?

@Would_you_kindly
wow, you really think development on how ragnarok began right after GOW release? You keep giving this excuse in comment section after comment section, but do you realize that you may not have done your homework here?

The PS5 started development in 2015 and it is widely believed that Dev kits went out either mid to late 2018 if not earlier but definitely no later than early 2019 so just because random pics and stuff didn't start showing up, rumblings began being discussed regarding dev kits were already out long before you are suggesting here. Including reputable website articles in early 2018, stating dev kits were already in the hands of some third party studios.

Let us not also forget the whopper that when God of War Ragnarok was announced it was announced as a PS5 title and only later backtrack on to what it truly was after the hype and console sales/demand were garnered(essentially they lied by omission about several titles to be honest).

The reason why this game and many others have opted to develop these last Gen games releasing several years into the next generation has nothing to do with dev kit availability and everything to do with easier to develop by carrying over all the same assets and environments (iterative content) and/or money. Period

@KundaliniRising333 do you honestly believe they had the hardware specs locked in for the ps5 a year before it was even announced & 2 years before production started

We act like this is the second coming. Relax, people, this is all Norse God's chicanery.

😄😊.haha.thats funny.the g.o.a.t. god 🐐 👑 of war.word up son

Tbh I'd probably give it back to Sony considering I have no interest in GoW anyway in hopes I get something extra like a controller.

well done either their no fussed on the game itll be on eBay or their crazy for the game 😂

Barely newsworthy this really. Won't be able to redeem it anyway, obviously the bundles have already been produced ahead of the release date. Just a case of the wrong one being sent out.

@GamingFan4Lyf I get that! (& feel his frustration). So far I managed to do so but on Twitter you never know.
Was reading an Asobo Studio’s - MS Flight Simulator article and someone mentioned A plaque’s Tale Requiem and before I knew, two tweets later they spoiled the whole story. I’m just past chapter 2 😢 (what happened or didn’t happen to the main characters in like 2 sentences)

@Totheteeth It's not. The wagyu name just means Japanese cow, literally, and there are four known breeds under the label.

@riceNpea no pitchforks from me. 😂 and that’s good can’t play until a week tomorrow. But still mistakes. Only saying.

@KundaliniRising333 well said and not much more to say other than yes your right. Mic drop from you!

@Pusher2021 I hate people.

@KundaliniRising333 The irony in some of your statements.. do you practice what you preach and give each game a chance before you ramble on how garbage it is, taking no critic review into account? I doubt it.

@AlBear lmfao of course I play them. If it's a game not yet out, it's simply my speculation.

In terms of God of War Ragnarok specifically, I'm basing that speculation on specific previews that are honest about it being extremely iterative meaning that in terms of visuals, how it plays, even reused entire environments and story beats, they're all apparent. even technical analysis suggested that it you should go into the game thinking of it like nothing more than just a continuation of the PS4 title because aside from the story progressing there really isn't anything greatly expanded upon, enhanced, shortcomings(animation transitions) fixed anything like that. Stating it's clearly a Ps4 title.

Now I'm also well aware of some people's sentiment that hey more of something so good is a great thing why change what isn't broken blah blah blah. That simply just isn't my experience having just played through the entirety of God of War 2018 again I can tell you it definitely doesn't age as well as I had thought nostalgically about it. Meaning it grew very boring to be honest the corridors the repetitive combat repetitive enemies it just felt simple I guess the story was still great The Narrative and the delivery of such all top notch but it definitely didn't play as wonderful as I had remembered it in my head and that's where my idea of having another iteration of that exact same game complete with the linearity the corridors Etc, I think that it's a Missed opportunity,.. 100%.

Especially when Dev kits for a new console came out right after the release of God of War 2018 which could have allowed for possibly a more open and intricate level design some definite needed graphical improvements because some of the effects in the game are absolutely dated. However I think for me the simplistic linearity of the corridor walking is the aspect needing more improvement the most.

But hey I have not played the game and I could be pleasantly surprised and it could be a wonderful enhancement of that Foundation set in 2018 and if so great. I'll eat my words, but I still have every right to speculate and I don't really give a s*** if a bunch of all things Sony Fanboys and fangirls get upset about it.

I fully expect most review Outlets to gush over this game but I won't be looking at those and the reason why is because a lot of them have Financial incentive to do so and they pretty much do so with every big major Triple A release especially ones that are specific Corporation tailored. The few review sites that do seem to allow their staff to give actual legitimate honest opinions those are the ones I'll be looking at because they usually are honest and they usually align with what I end up experiencing when I do give the games a try either way which I pretty much always do. One thing I've noticed specifically with reviews is you just got to read every bit of them because even the ones that end up giving them a nine or a 10 often list all of the shortcomings and problems and things that probably should have been improved prior to release in the review they just end up giving it a high score because it drives sales and thus guarantees they remain in good graces with the corporation they rely on for revenue. A lot of people only look at numbers and aggregator sites that total up an average all those numbers. So if enough of those details that seem consistent across dozens and dozens of reviews are something that I'm not okay with then I pass on the game but almost 75% of the time I end up supporting the developers anyway and buying the game I mean I have Ragnarok pre-ordered right NOW, DESPITE FULLY EXPECTING IT TO BE UNDERWHELMING.

Will I canceled the pre-order if it ends up sounding like a lot of what I am speculating is TRUE? probably not AS, I still want to see the story through but I won't be f****** platinumING it like the first one, because in 2022 the gameplay is a bit of a slog.

Hey I'm the OP. A few things. 1) the bundle wasn't for me. I purchased it for a friend's friend really. My friend is the middleman who will be receiving the package and giving it to his friend. I have no word on if his friend is okay with the swap yet. I don't imagine anyone would be upset by this but if he isn't it should be easy for my friend to find someone else to take it. I have actually secured several PS5s for friends and family. Since I work from home it's easy to monitor drops so people have asked me and I've helped them and and they reimburse me for the retail price. I do not believe in scalping so this would've never been put on eBay 2) someone else in my post also received this and confirmed it worked as a preload. So yes, it doesn't work. I already suspected it wouldn't work until the launch date anyway. 3) I already own MW2 and enjoy it a lot. I also already reserved a GoWR CE (ironically I'll be paying it off with GameStop points I accumulated helping others secure PS5s) and will be playing it at launch.

Meh. Kid is annoying. Good guy fights things slowly. Bad guys keep coming. Good guy feels clunky and stuck in molasses.