God of War: Ragnarok has done a pretty good job in terms of not having everything come out prior to launch, yet it seems like a game with this much hype in an age of leaks galore is bound to run into some trouble.
Previously, there were reports of some poor fuddy-duddy accidentally posting screenshots of the game on their Twitter account through the PlayStation Network after seemingly getting a review code for the title.
Honestly, as somebody that’s playing a preview copy of the game myself and knew all the hoops one has to jump through in the PlayStation backend in order to play games like this early, I was pretty dumbfounded as to how this could happen. Regardless, because I am always under the impression that if something has gone wrong that it is my fault, I thought it was me. Luckily it wasn’t.
However, this time it’s not a fault of a sad clown posting screenshots from the safety of his circus, but instead a fault of an unknown retailer. According to Cory Barlog, who is the creative director of Santa Monica Studio and the producer of God of War: Ragnarok, an unnamed retailer has begun to sell copies of the upcoming game two weeks prior to release.
a retailer selling the game nearly TWO WEEKS before release.
just so disappointing.
— cory barlog (@corybarlog) October 29, 2022
In a follow-up tweet, Barlog apologises to fans that now must ‘dodge’ any spoilers that come out as a result of the game having its street date broken in one place, and that he thinks it’s ‘stupid’ that people have to do this.
This was then followed up by a statement from Santa Monica Studio themselves. The statement reads as follows:
A message from the team. pic.twitter.com/SRE9tSOV6a
— Santa Monica Studio – God of War Ragnarök (@SonySantaMonica) October 30, 2022
As we approach launch, it is important for our studio to preserve the experience of God of War Ragnarok for players who want to enjoy the game for the first time without spoilers.
We ask that you please be considerate of the many fans who do not want to accidentally see clips, gameplay, or narrative spoilers and avoid sharing them wider.
We are doing our best to limit the exposure of unsanctioned footage and screenshots, but the reality is that we cannot catch everything.
For those of you who do not want to risk seeing anything before launch, we strongly advise that you mute any keywords or hashtags associated with the game until release day.
We appreciate the support you’ve shown us more than we can say. We can assure you it will be worth the wait to experience the game yourself when it is released in less than two weeks on November 9th.
As a result, spoilers are already flooding social media and other online spaces as internet sleuths figure out exactly which store it is that’s selling copies early. If you are excited to play God of War: Ragnarok and you don’t want key points of the game’s campaign spoiled for you, we recommend you exercise a great deal of caution. Mute those keywords, and be very careful about the online spaces you inhabit over the next two weeks.
What a fuckin’ bummer, man.
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