God of War Ragnarok: here's the release date, are you calmer now?

God of War Ragnarok

The past few weeks have been very turbulent for anyone who is passionate about the PlayStation world. After a very prolonged communication absence regarding the upcoming exclusive Sony releases, many fans have been speculating very heavily on the release date of God of War Ragnarok. All this, in combo with a series of rumors, has generated a very chaotic situation that has resulted in horrible behavior from alleged fans towards some developers and creatives of Santa Monica Studios.



God of War Ragnarock As Cory Barlog himself had pointed out, it was enough to have a bit of patience, and here a few moments ago the long-awaited release date of God of War Ragnarok was announced. The next big PlayStation exclusive will debut on PS5 and PS4 consoles on November 9, 2022. To give us this happy news was the same Japanese company, which also published a series of details on the game and a new trailer on the PlayStation Blog.| ); }
God of War Ragnarök launches on PS4 & PS5 November 9, 2022.

More info from Santa Monica Studio: https://t.co/GUmUZUl5NO pic.twitter.com/jMbTswDp4j

- PlayStation (@PlayStation) July 6, 2022



Well, finally we also have the long awaited and much requested God of War Ragnarok launch date. In spite of some very frequent speculations, the next great work by PlayStation Studios has not been postponed to next year, and this November PS5 and PS4 owners will be able to spend a first winter period enjoying Ragnarok in a perfect and almost magical for the themes and the cold Norse settings that will be the background to the new adventure of Kratos and his companions.

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Cory Barlog Confirms No ‘God Of War Ragnarok’ Delay Amidst Release Date Confusion

God of War Ragnarok

Sony

I don’t even know where to start with what’s going on with God of War Ragnarok and its release date/showcase rumors, so let’s just go in chronological order here.

September 2021 was the first real showcase of God of War Ragnarok, aired after it was delayed out of 2021 and into 2022. It showed a familiar but impressive look at the second and final chapter of the Norse saga.

April 2022 brought the release of a video from Santa Monica Studio director Cory Barlog that more or less said they were not ready to show more yet, but thanks for being patient:

June 2, 2022 was the E3-window PlayStation showcase that showed off a number of upcoming games, but God of War Ragnarok was not there, nor was it mentioned.

This past week, rumors emerged from online insider The Snitch that PlayStation was about to finally reveal the release date of God of War Ragnarok today, on June 30.

Yesterday, Cory Barlog took to Twitter to post the following, indicating that no, this was not probably not going to happen, and implied that the decision as not up to him.

Jason Schreier confirmed that yes, there was a plan to unveil the release date on June 30, but Barlog indicates that isn’t happening. He did not believe this meant the game was delayed.

Later yesterday, Cory Barlog replied to a fan and said outright that the game was not delayed. So here we are.

Adding all this together, we appear to have arrived at a point where studio director Cory Barlog is saying that he wishes he could share information, but it is not up to him, implying it is up to Sony which doesn’t want Santa Monica to say or show anything yet. But he has confirmed no further delay of the game. Even though this could be tricky wording, as a game without a release date cannot technically be delayed, it seems safe to interpret what has been officially said about release, that God of War Ragnarok will be out in 2022, is still the case, despite the lack of footage since September 2021, and these “we’ll talk soon” messages from Barlog that continue to be cryptic and ask for patience.

It can also be noted that the God of War release date (for the first game) was not announced until three months before release, and three months from today is still just the end of September, and it’s easy to imagine the game arriving in October, November or December within the promised 2022 window.

While I don’t think there’s anything to worry about here per se, it is markedly strange how radio silent Sony/Santa Monica has gone about the game since nine months ago, and I do not think that it’s an unfair question to ask about a potential delay when we know A) loads of big games are always delayed out of the holiday window and B) literally a rival huge game just was, Bethesda’s Starfield. Though it seems some fans are going too far in harassing Santa Monica for information. Here’s writer Alanah Pearce:

Again, it’s not clear what’s going on here. Sony has practically no competition for the holiday window, so it doesn’t make a ton of sense why an exact date would be so hard to pin down. It also is somewhat unclear why God of War Ragnarok would still be showing quite literally nothing of substance for the last nine months, even if a release date was not yet set.

And yet, with Barlog saying that the game is not delayed out of the 2022 window, that would not indicate there’s some sort of massive secret problem here, and everything is probably just fine. The messaging, however, about the state of the game and when it’s coming, continues to be confusing, however, and I get why fans are asking questions (although they need to do so respectfully).

My guess is we hear something within a month from now, but at this point, who knows.

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