The release date of God of War Ragnarok was announced after the developers were harassed by fans.
“God of War Ragnarok,” the mythological mega-sequel to the 2018 reboot of the “God of War” series, is coming to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on November 9, 2022 , Sony announced in a blog post on Wednesday. But the road to the long-awaited release date has been anything but straightforward. The month of June saw would-be fans churn out rumors, ultimately venting their anger on the developers who spent the past several years working tirelessly to create the game.
When it comes to major video game releases of 2022, Sony’s Santa Monica Studio ’s “God of War Ragnarok” reigns supreme as one of the biggest fish in a seemingly empty pond. Covid-19-induced delays and the legacy of the disastrous launch of “Cyberpunk 2077” have pushed major games like Bethesda’s “ Starfield ” and Nintendo ’s sequel “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” to the distant reaches of 2023.
This frame was in the lead until the announcement of the release date of «Ragnarok». Fans who were waiting for news during last month's Summer Game Fest were disappointed that they saw neither animal skin nor whiskers from the «dad» of PlayStation. Throughout this period, «the industry insiders» of varied (and often dubious) reputation stirred up fans for a release date of God of War Ragnarok on June 30.
The uproar prompted Santa Monica's creative director, Cory Barlog, to ask fans to be patient on Twitter.
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The June 30th reveal didn't materialize. Fans, seeking information about God of War Ragnarok's release date, began harassing the Santa Monica developers, including film producer Estelle Tigani and writer Alanah Pearce. The former described unwanted advances from fans on Twitter.
"Sending me illegal photos asking for the release date of 'God of War Ragnarok' will not, in fact, make me reveal the release date," Tigani on Twitter. "To the people who do this, has this ever worked for you?"
In response, Santa Monica posted a message discouraging harassment.
«Our fans inspire us and we understand the passion and desire for more information», the studio wrote. «But this passion must not be toxic nor come at the expense of anyone's dignity».
This kind of dynamic has been around many highly anticipated video games, even in recent weeks. After a trailer for “Return to Monkey Island” revealed that the PC adventure revival would feature a new art style, fans burned down the comments section of the game’s director, Ron Gilbert,. Ultimately, Gilbert opted to close comments on his post about the trailer and said he would no longer share information about the game on his blog.
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"The joy of sharing has stopped for me," Gilbert. "Play it or don't play it, but don't ruin it for everyone else."
As the news and culture website Inverse, some of this is the natural result of the video game industry’s reliance on multi-year drip-feed marketing cycles, fueled by an insatiable online content machine that demands fodder for Twitter feeds and YouTube and Twitch streams. “This market of anticipation is used to benefit publishers,” wrote video game trends writer Willa Rowe, “but it leaves developers to suffer the consequences.”
Source: washingtonpost.com
