If you, like us, were anxiously awaiting the release of God of War Ragnarok (unofficial name at this stage) later this year, we have some bad news for you. This as Santa Monica Studio tweeted out an announcement that it will have to push out its release to 2022 instead of 2021 as originally intended.
The move is expected, given how many studios and developers have struggled to complete projects and changing timelines as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While the news is not great, it needs to be respected, especially as Cyberpunk 2077 serves as a prime example of a AAA title that was rushed to release before it was ready.
— Santa Monica Studio Is Hiring (@SonySantaMonica) June 2, 2021
The news is something that PlayStation Studios has acknowledged as well, choosing to give the team as much time as possible to deliver a great game.
“So we have, currently, two very big, very narrative-driven games in development: Horizon Forbidden West and the next God of War. And for both of those, they’re frankly affected by access to performance capture and talent. For Horizon, we think we are on track to release this holiday season. But that isn’t quite certain yet, and we’re working as hard as we can to confirm that to you as soon as we can,” noted Herman Hulst, head of PlayStation Studios in a blog Q&A.
“And for God of War, the project started a little later. So we’ve made the decision to push that game out to next year, to ensure that Santa Monica Studio can deliver the amazing God of War game that we all want to play,” he added.
Given how impressive the 2018 title was, having a lacklustre follow up is not something that Sony can afford, particularly as its exclusives have proved the one shining light in the battle against Microsoft and its bevy of great services for the Xbox.
The only silver lining to this news is that God of War Ragnarok is slated to be a PS4 release too, and not simply a PS5- exclusive like Returnal was.
