‘God Of War: Ragnarok’ Officially Delayed Into 2022

Let's be honest - we already expected the sequel to 2018's phenomenal God of War to slip from its supposed 2021 release and into next year. Santa Monica Studio's radio silence on the project has been deafening, and industry insiders had already suggested that what we're all calling God of War: Ragnarok (still a working title, that) was now a 2022 release.

And now, we've confirmation of what we have long been anticipating: the sequel has, indeed, moved from a 2021 release into 2022. Santa Monica Studio tweeted a statement outlining that they've been overwhelmed by the support and excitement for the game, since it was first teased at the end of 2019, but to maintain the "safety and wellbeing of our team, creative partners and family," the release date has been revised.

Remind yourself of that 2019 teaser, below

"We've made the decision to shift our release window to 2022," the statement continues. Again, this isn't a surprise, but nevertheless it'll disappoint some PlayStation fans who simply can't wait to go adventuring with Kratos and Atreus once more. But personally, any studio that puts the health of its staff ahead of hitting deadlines is alright by me - and I think I speak for the whole GAMINGbible team, and no doubt a lot of you reading this, when I say that I don't mind waiting a little longer if it avoids periods of excessive crunch and the risk of staff burnout.

Check out the full statement below.

Elsewhere, Sony has confirmed that God of War: Ragnarok, or whatever it's going to be called, will not be a PlayStation 5 exclusive - it and Gran Turismo 7 will both also release on PlayStation 4, just as Horizon Forbidden West is (reports VGC). Which will be great news for anyone unable to upgrade their PlayStation for a while (hi!).

Confirming the PS4 release news on the PlayStation Blog, PlayStation Studios head Hermen Hulst commented, "You can't build a community of over 110 million PS4 owners and then just walk away from it, right?" He added that just releasing a game like the next God of War exclusively on PS5 would be "frankly not very good business". In addition to known projects, he revealed that "PlayStation Studios have more than 25 titles in development," and "almost half of these are new IP" - and that the God of War delay is in part due to pandemic-affected limited access to "performance capture and talent".

In related PlayStation news, we're pretty darn sure that a new State of Play is on the way - might be the end of June, might be sooner (ahem, it's almost definitely sooner). With the delay now public, expect to see this God of War sequel shown off in some capacity without the pressure of sticking a release date on the end of it. And if you're still after a PS5, keep your eyes out for restocks this week.

Topics: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, God Of War