God of War II producer leaves Sony

By Eric Bratcher
published

Kratos' keeper moves on, hands over bloodied reins of franchise

Nov 6, 2007

Whether or not youKratos fans know who Godof War II's giftedGame DirectorCory Barlog is,you shouldbe happy tohear that Sony is pretty sure it can handle the God of War franchise without him. Which is good, because he's left the company.

Sony's official statement regarding the matter goes something like this:
"We can confirm that Cory Barlog, Game Director for God of War II, is leaving the SCEA Santa Monica Studio and we are grateful for his work and creative vision for the critically acclaimed God of War franchise. Moving forward, we are confident in the God of War team, as they are an extremely talented group of people that are passionate about the franchise and dedicated to creating even more epic content with God of War: Chains of Olympus for the PSP and God of War III for PS3."

While the loss of a talented fellow like Barlog is almost certainly a blow to the dev team, we should point out that he himself was a replacement for the series' original helmsman, David Jaffe. And God of War II turned out just fine despite the switch, so it seems likely that GoW III will be okay as well.Also, the PSP game is actually being developed by another studio entirely, so it'll basically just get a new corporate overseer.

In other words, we're at least tentatively confident that Kratos'flesh-cleaving adventures will continue unhindered and unblemished. Good luck in whatever your next endeavor is Cory, and good luck Sony in finding someone to fill his corpuscle-soaked sandals.

Eric Bratcher
Eric Bratcher
I was the founding Executive Editor/Editor in Chief here at GR, charged with making sure we published great stories every day without burning down the building or getting sued. Which isn't nearly as easy as you might imagine. I don't work for GR any longer, but I still come here - why wouldn't I? It's awesome. I'm a fairly average person who has nursed an above average love of video games since I first played Pong just over 30 years ago. I entered the games journalism world as a freelancer and have since been on staff at the magazines Next Generation and PSM before coming over to GamesRadar. Outside of gaming, I also love music (especially classic metal and hard rock), my lovely wife, my pet pig Bacon, Japanese monster movies, and my dented, now dearly departed '89 Ranger pickup truck. I pray sincerely. I cheer for the Bears, Bulls, and White Sox. And behind Tyler Nagata, I am probably the GR staffer least likely to get arrested... again.