Confirming the news on Twitter, developer Sony Santa Monica Studio explained it had made the decision to push God of War: Ragnarok’s release back into 2022 in order to maintain the “safety and wellbeing” of its team. “Since the release of the next God of War teaser last year,” the full statement reads, “we’ve been humbled by the amount of love our community has show us. We’re incredibly grateful so see so many people excited to experience the next chapter of Kratos and Atreus’ journey”. “We remain focused on delivering a top-quality game while maintaining the safety and wellbeing of our team, creative partners, and families,” the developer continues. “With this in mind, we’ve made the decision to shift out release window to 2022”. In addition to God of War: Ragnarok’s revised release date, Sony has confirmed the game will be a cross-gen title - as will eagerly awaited PS5 racing sim Gran Turismo 7 - and will be making its way to PlayStation 4 alongside the previously announced PS5 version. Hermen Hulst, head of PlayStation Studios, shared the news as part of an interview on the PlayStation Blog. “Where it makes sense to develop a title for both PS4 and PS5 - for Horizon Forbidden West, the next God of War, GT7 - we’ll continue looking at that,” he explained. “And if PS4 owners want to play that game, then they can. If they want to go on and play the PS5 version, that game will be there for them.” God of War: Ragnarok is the second of Sony’s big first-party 2021 releases to be pushed back into next year. A delay for Gran Turismo 7 - blamed on “Covid-related production challenges” - was announced in February. According to Hulst, it’s currently unclear if Horizon Forbidden West will meet a similar fate. “For Horizon,” he revealed, “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.”
