Perhaps the lawyers at Microsoft are too busy trying to wrap up the company’s near-$70 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, because we’re not entirely sure how this God of War knock-off made it onto the Xbox Store. War Gods Zeus of Child, developed by a company named Dolaka Ltd – we couldn’t find a website – is plagiarism in its finest form: the studio hasn’t even tried to hide the fact that it’s effectively copied Kratos’ character model.
The game appears to be a fully-fledged release, with a PEGI rating and all – although we couldn’t find reference to it on the ratings board’s official website. We assume, therefore, it’s actually part of the Xbox Creators Collection, which is a section of Microsoft’s storefront reserved for apps which don’t necessarily require the firm’s full stamp of approval. We suppose you could compare this to, say, a Dreams homage – although it’s being sold for real-money, and isn’t labelled any differently to the other products on the Xbox Store. Odd.
Judging by some Eurogamer.net footage of this title, we doubt Sony will be too fussed: yes, it’s technically infringing on the platform holder’s property, but is it really doing any damage? After all, God of War Ragnarok is about three months away now, and we’ve got a hunch it’s going to completely outshine War Gods Zeus of Child. However, it is an amusing reminder of the challenges all platform holders face when it comes to content curation on their storefronts.
Nevertheless, Xbox boss Phil Spencer recently mentioned that Santa Monica Studio’s sequel is his most anticipated game – well, looks like he has something to keep him occupied until November now!
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[source xbox.com, via eurogamer.net]
Comments 57
Boi! What is this plagiarism madness!
Still better than all the "Jumping X" 2€ Games that are flodding the PS Store everyday and are actually Sony aproved lol
@IonMagi The Jumping Chocolate Brownie is my Game of the Year!
@get2sammyb Did you ever thought about making an article about those Games getting spammed into the Store? Its literally painful to scroll through the "New Releases" section
Sony should sue the people who made this.
@IonMagi We've written about it before, yes, but I agree it's getting worse and deserves revisiting.
Can't wait for the sequel; War Gods Zeus of Child: Odin of Dad.
Yeah, but is it day one on Game Pass?
First that laughable unofficial Mario game and now this? Who approves this?😅
A true masterpiece if I've ever seen one.
Looks like another Gilson Pontes joint
@get2sammyb There’s those weird Breakthrough Gaming ones as well. Because how better to spread the Good Word than making your kid play a native PS5 version of a game made in MS Paint.
This looks like they probably "borrowed" the Fortnite Kratos model. If you're going to steal, steal from two companies at once!
@get2sammyb "The Jumping Chocolate Brownie is my Game of the Year!"
Moving up from the GaaS games you picked last year, I see!
The funny thing is… this is the first Xbox game I’ve heard about in at least five years lol That’s when you know things are bad.
Is it on Gamepass? 🤣
Reading the title of this gave me a stroke.
This is definitely a lawsuit. Haha, the funny thing is, Microsoft would have had to approve the game to go on the store.
Did 343 make this 🤣
@get2sammyb @IonMagi they even clutter up the pre-orders section. like it's practically useless scrolling through with the amount of junk on the PS store these days.
meh , as much as sony copies Xbox i say it ain’t a big deal .
imagine sony without the competition of M$ , we’d be in the stone ages of gaming with blu ray and barely any progression since the ps2 .
@zupertramp And then Sony is suprised why Indie Games dont sell on Playstation anymore... probably also because they are burried between all those "Games"
@IonMagi Absolutely agree. There are always some indie gems but it's hard to discern if any game outside of the most recognizable titles is worth your time when there's really way too much to sift through and there's not even a base level of quality control.
I actively try not to visit the store. That, to me, seems like a problem.
@get2sammyb Possible dumb question, but why is the header/graphics for this article red as opposed to the usual blue?
@IonMagi please literally show us where it literally hurts.
@pyrrhic_victory We used to have the ability to change the theme for different franchises. (Red for God of War, for example.)
I'm not sure whether we can still do it, but clearly the code has remained! 😂
Jim Ryan did say subscription services would affect game quality. Look at the Xbox version of God of War!
I love the name lmao
Im pretty sure the god of war rights holders will have to send the makers and xbox store a cease and desist. If they don't that could have problems down the line with any future infringements.
@IonMagi how do you know?
@Razrye888 How do I know what? That Indie Games dont sell on Playstation for the most part? There were tons of articles released in 2021 about that, just look them up
So this is where Santa Monica got the idea for the new game Ragnarok? Interesting! Hope MS sues, this is outrageous
The Show was ported to Xbox, it was only a matter of time before they started porting Sony's other games.
Phil. Spencer cant wait to play god of war ragnarok.haha.microsoft cant make masterpiece like god of war 2018 and upcoming god of war so its a cheap knock off wtf🤔.sony is like what.haha.word up son
"We have God of War at home"
😂 Bravo
Gamepass certified
@pyrrhic_victory Glad you asked. I was curious as well.
@IonMagi lol I was just thinking about those dumb jumping games that appear everyday! It really makes browsing the latest releases an awful experience.
Not to be mean to the developer of this trash but I wish Sony was more strict about what they released on the store. These games wouldn’t sell on mobile, I doubt anyone would buy any of these (on purpose) on PlayStation. Does Sony think publishing more games on the store equals more sales, coz I would argue these kind of games stop people from buying other titles coz browsing becomes unpleasant.
This looks like something made in Dreams. 🤣🤣🤣
@Breekhead unfortunately people do buy them because they award a platinum trophy in a minute. So each one gets hundreds of sales. Let's say 300 sales, suppose they release 200 "games" (individual trophy stacks) per year at $1.50 each, and they're making $90K a year (well before Sony's cut, taxes, etc).
@UltimateOtaku91 of course 343i didn't make this. This is a stupid accusation. If 343i had made it, it would have taken 5 studios to finish and would be full price with microtransactions.
@get2sammyb That’s high key awesome, you should bring that back if you have the time and resources. It doesn’t really affect anything, but it’s cool 😂
There were also some clearly unlicensed Spider-Man games on there that literally used the PS4 Spider-Man artwork as their cover image.
Not sure if still there, hopefully got removed, but it got me wondering how that could even get through even a most bare bones approval process.
Looks awesome
Forget models, how does one arrive at a title like "Zeus of Child"? It's one thing to lack command of a language, but if you're involved with video games, one would think you've come across no shortage of examples illustrating how the preposition works.🤔😅
This is when you really want to bring the hammer down. Not only is it IP theft, it looks horrible. I love fan service mods/games, because I think they only add to the popularity of the main game but this almost makes me want to never look at the franchise again. JK, I'll be there day one, but just get this imposter out of my sight. They deserve the wrath of the blood sucking attorneys.
@nhSnork I'm going to go out on a very sturdy limb, and say English is probably not their first language. That's a very common placement of words in the romance languages.
@LightningLeader
Do you really not see the PlayStation connection??
On a related note, I'd prefer if they included all available platforms when discussing a game instead of the current approach of just mentioning PS5 and PS4.
@Milktastrophe Oh wow if that’s the case Sony should just save everyone the hassle and sell platinum trophies for a dollar.
Can’t wait for the others in the series:
Horizontal Zenith Fawn and Us at the Last.
@Th3solution "Horizontal Zenith Fawn"
Playstation doesn't allow that kind of game anymore. You'll need Switch or Steam for that.
Guaranteed to be next month's PS Plus game.
seriously could they not of done kratos from ps2 era??? i suppose strike with the latest one 😂 4 quid a pop sold 100 odd im sure more no bad for an afternoons work.
@tselliot and others like, say, Japanese. Which is why I've mentioned the possibility myself; point is, I wonder how easy it would still be to make this particular kind of mistake while engaged with the medium where titles with the proper "of" usage are an absolute multitude throughout the video game history. Heck, the very model design they snatched is normally associated with "God of War", not with "War of God".😅
It is copy of God of W... ohh wait! Ahhh that is God of War 5... nevermind...
@EquiinoxGII
I have the feeling this game was done in a country that has nonexistent copyright laws. Reminds me of the Turkish film industry in the 70's blatantly stealing copyrighted characters like Batman and stealing footage from Star Wars that they then inserted in their movies without ANY permission.
@GagaOooLaLa ....Lol.....LMAO
...HAHAHA....CAN'T STOP LAUGHING..
You have just made comment of the month...... i mean what u say is so true.....this is the first Xbox original ip in the last 5 to 6 years all with x1x, xbss and xbsx being released.
It truly shows how bad it is on the $GREEN team
@get2sammyb .....Well it was a bit confusing i mist say as i thought it may be another part of your site i did know about but then wondered why it would be discussing a ps games.....
Anyway it sounds a cool idea, thought maybe you can bring it back and each franchise u cover have it contextual theme color ......
Some of the comments on here are so pathetic and childish. Absolute fanboy drivel.
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