God of War: Ragnarok's devs say the game's broken street date is "so disappointing"

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"This is not at all how any of us at SMS wanted things to go"

God of War Ragnarok
(Image credit: Sony)

Cory Barlog has expressed his frustration at "disappointing" decisions by some retailers to sell God of War Ragnarok two weeks early, causing spoilers to flood the internet.

In a thread posted over the weekend, God of War: Ragnarok producer Barlog apologized to fans who'd been patiently waiting for the highly-anticipated sequel, saying "this is not at all how any of us at [Sony Santa Monica] wanted things to go".

"You know, right now, I can really understand the benefit of having just an installer on the physical disc. [Shake my head]", Barlog tweeted, intimating that selling the physical disc with the game installed has resulted in some fans getting early access to the super secretive storyline.

"A retailer selling the game nearly TWO WEEKS before release. Just so disappointing."

Responses to his tweets range from full-hearted support to demands to release Ragnarok early, with many fans confirming that they plan to stay off social media and YouTube until release day in an effort to avoid spoilers. 

"Sorry to everyone that you have to dodge the spoilers if you want to play the game fresh," Barlog added. "Completely fucking stupid you have to do this. This is not at all how any of us at SMS wanted things to go."

This new crop of spoilers comes just days after God of War: Ragnarok screenshots appeared to leak ahead of its release next month (don't click if you're trying to stay spoiler-free!).

We recently spoke to Ragnarok director Eric Williams, who discussed how much Atreus has grown up in the time since the 2018 game (something the team has also had to deal with in real life). As Sony Santa Monica had kept the story under wraps, the spoilerific screenshots were quite the surprise.

For more, check out our God of War preview, from which we surmise "God of War Ragnarok isn't a complete evolution, but it doesn't need to be".

Want to know more? We talk with God of War Raganrok's game director about the importance of the opening hours.

Vikki Blake
Vikki Blake
Weekend Reporter, GamesRadar+

Vikki Blake is GamesRadar+'s Weekend Reporter. Vikki works tirelessly to ensure that you have something to read on the days of the week beginning with 'S', and can also be found contributing to outlets including the BBC, Eurogamer, and GameIndustry.biz. Vikki also runs a weekly games column at NME, and can be frequently found talking about Destiny 2 and Silent Hill on Twitter.