
Just in case you somehow haven't heard, Sony confirmed the cancellation of two projects last week — one of them reportedly being a live service God of War game, which was in development at Bluepoint Games. A crazy turn of events, to be sure.
Our immediate reaction was one of bemusement. Sony had Bluepoint — a studio known for its stellar Shadow of the Colossus and Demon's Souls remakes — working on some kind of multiplayer God of War thing? It really hammered home the overall scope of PlayStation's live service push — and its subsequent mismanagement.
But just to be totally fair to everyone involved, we have little to no idea about how this project actually looked. It could have been anything. A co-op action RPG. A hero shooter involving the franchise's many gods. We just don't know (and we might never know, barring any future leaks).
We're left wondering, though... how would PlayStation fans have reacted to such an announcement? Could a new God of War game have avoided the hate that's so prevalent whenever the term 'live service' rears its increasingly ugly head? The hypothetical situation makes for an interesting study.
And so we're here with this article. How would you have reacted to a live service God of War game announcement? Vote in our polls, and then tell nothing but the truth in the comments section below.
How would you have reacted to a live service God of War announcement? (1,737 votes)
- I would have been hyped, I love anything God of War
- I would have been interested, for sure
- I would have been cynical, but willing to give it a fair shot
- I would have been disappointed
- I would have been outraged
What do you want next from God of War? (1,557 votes)
- Honestly, a live service / multiplayer thing0.8%
- Another full, AAA, single-player God of War game
- Some kind of smaller, standalone God of War game
- Remakes / remasters of the earlier God of War games
Comments 86
Reaction: 'meh'
I would have been outraged that Bluepoint was wasting their talent.
I would've basically become God Of War III Kratos 😅
My outrage comes from the fact that it was BluePoint who was working on it, not the IP. If Bend had been working on a live service God of War, I'd have merely been disappointed.
If anything bluepoint should have been developing a smaller spinoff single player gow game instead of live service. Also live service takes a lot of developers how was bluepoint even making one? Can't believe they have Media Moleque making a live service title as well
I love anything and everything God of War, but I don't enjoy live service. I tried God of War: Ascension and I had fun for about an hour. Then I gave up. I'm sure I would have enjoyed it for a while.
I'd have been really interested to find out what they were planning, I may have even bought it if it looked really good... I might have even played it one day who knows.
The only way Sony can recover from this frankly bizarre situation is to acquire the Skies of Arcadia IP and get Bluepoint to work their magic on a remake.
Kneejerk reaction wouldn't have been positive... BUT it depends what the game was and if I thought I would vibe with it.
With a shrug probably, I'm not the biggest God of War fan anyway but I don't play live service games at all
I feel like it'd get repetitive fast if they didn't add more characters and variety. Chasing one more stat point on your gear wouldn't be enough to keep me interested for long.
Trailer starts
Me: "Yes, a new God of War game"
Trailer says it's live service
Me: "Oh god no"
Yep, that would have been my exact reaction
Where's the "I wouldn't have cared answer" 🤔
From where I am sitting, Sony was determined to butcher each and every one of their IPs in the misguided hope that at least one of them would show a return on the live service gravy train.
I wonder what we are at now? A 90/10 failure rate? Must be 80/20 at least.
I want a remaster of the OG God of War 1, 2, Ghost of Sparta and Chains of Olympus, and I want more angry Kratos
Please a smaller one next time, that last one was so long and tedious.
Eye roll would have been my response.
I never even liked single player GoW games. With that said, I would love if Dony released GoW live service and it would crash and burn just to give them a reality check.
I would’ve definitely not been happy. I want new single player IP.
With horror tbh
Because it is Bluepoint I would have/ am pissed. What a waste of a generation for first party studios.
Depends on the timing of the announcement, but if it was announced now I honestly would have just laughed. I was past any outrage a few years ago with all the live service announcements, and in a post Concord world it just feels like a parody.
I were happy, because I could retaliate against Atreus, for dozens of unasked hints.
Confusion is the word that comes to mind for me. I mean Bluepoint...expert remake/remaster studio...making a live service GOW? Such an odd choice. I must admit I'm curious just what the heck they had in mind with it.
I wonder if there were staff at Bluepoint who were like "Okay! We are a 1st party Playstation studio! So what are we making 1st?...what's that?...a live service modern GOW game?...ummm...sure I guess..."
Overall just a truly baffling story.
Burned my ps5!
Be optimistic and hope the game plays well and is good before bashing it and hoping for it to fail without seeing any gameplay.
I would have liked a shorter spin off game starring Thrúd because I thought she was a cool character plus after taking Thor's hammer it would have been interesting to see what she did next.
Did you mean to say skeptical instead of cynical 😄
God of war is not and never will be anything but a single player game who seriously wants this gass rubbish
I mean the online portion of GOW: Ascension didn't set the world on fire so i duno why they thought it would be a good idea. I'm all for multiplayer games here and there, just not in games that have been generally single player.
If it actually came to be, I would maybe see how live service translates to the God of War world. I am outraged that Bluepoint have now wasted years on something Sony directed them to make. I'm outraged that there are so many IP's in Playstation's graveyard, that they couldn't think one of those was worth resurrecting? Just make a Division style Resistance game, maybe?! Not it had to be God Of War... a purely single player game for the whole of its lifetime.
Bluepoint seems to be very talented, so I am curious about what they might have been cooking up, but I think it's probably for the best that GOW not be turned into a live service vehicle. That said, I wouldn't be opposed to a co-op game in the universe. Something along the lines of It Takes Two maybe. Though GOW would probably lend itself better to something akin to Ghost of Tsushima's Legends mode, and like Legends, it should probably be more of a bonus thing and not the focus of a whole new entry.
I would have ignored it like I have all other live service games.
You're just baiting the comment section at this point.
not disappointed or outraged (at what, exactly?), just uninterested.
2018 and Ragnarok are top 10 games all time for me and Valhalla is not too far behind. I am the core audience for any GoW game and even I would completely ignore a live service GoW. Even if it was free to play I still wouldn't give it a shot.
I guess it depends on what exactly a live service GoW game would be.
As for the future obviously more single player experiences as GoW has been for practically it's entire existence outside of the online mode Ascension had
And id love to see remakes/remasters of the original trilogy and the PSP games but worry they'd suffer from heavy censorship. Not that I need the dumb sex mini games to enjoy them but let's be honest, that topic alone would cause controversy whether you're for it or against it lol
Outraged? Really? I can honestly say that no game being announced has ever left me outraged.
Remasters and/or remakes of earlier God of War games would do me, though. I didn't like how God of War 2018 played, despite loving everything surrounding the gameplay.
The biggest outrage is misusing Bluepoint to make it!
I don't like the GOW franchise so I would have ignored it & moved on with my day like any normal sane person.
There is more than just hype or outrage though you wouldn't know it looking at any gaming (or fandom in general) related site.
Ragnarok felt too disney for me. If this is the way god of war is going, I'm tuned out.
I picked the cynical one. I just don't see a logical live service games from this franchise, at least one that resembles the GoW games that have existed thus far. The other thing is, screw GoW! These are great games, but I don't actually love the franchise. I would love nothing more than Santa Monica and Sony moving on from it for a while. The reboot series has made 2 excellent games, and I was amazed how they reinvented the franchise, but I don't just want more and more of them.
Like any game. If its cool and fun then im in. I dont pay for loot or passes.
@Robert Ramsey the poll about what i would like next well theres no option for a game that goes back to its roots.
Thats what i would pick👍
I want a new God of War game in the style of the older ones.
Back then it was full of copycats, nowadays there's nothing like it.
been with god of war franchise since day one and it wouldn't be a stretch to call it one of my all time favourites. after completing 6 of the 8 entries (still have not played ascension or ragnarok yet), i think it is time to retire the franchise. or at the very least, take a long hiatus (i'm thinking ps7), until they are able to reinvent it again. go ahead with the remasters and remakes if you must, sony, but i have no desire for those. on a side note, sometimes it is best to let a franchise rest until there is a team passionate and innovative enough to take it to the next level. barlog did exactly that with gow (2018) but it is now time to see santa monica flex its mind and create some new world's and characters. kratos will always be one of the great gaming characters as it stands but all good things do come to an end so that we can better appreciate what they left behind.
Sony have plenty of shooter IP they could use for one. God of War is not one of those games suitable for it
A multiplayer God of War game? Meh. I might try it, but likely wouldn’t buy it.
A multiplayer Hades game? Yessir, I’ll give that a try.
Just give me a couch co-op Bastion or Hades game…or maybe a Sly game with one player controlling Sly and the other in charge of helping the turtle dude guide Sly through the level. That’s really what I’d like to play.
I’m not mad…. Just disappointed… 😔
Remember that time when people were convincing themselves that this live service push from Sony would not necessarily come at the expense of development resources for single player games? Well… here we are.
@Mr_B021 absolutely, right. oh, how wrong those people were. some continue to be wrong even after the fallout which boggles the mind.
God of war is a single player games end of questions.word up son
My reaction is the same for multiplayer in GoW Ascension; dissapointed. Like why wasted resources for something that GoW fans never ask / wants.
And what's next for GoW...some propose moving to other myth like Egypt or Aztec. But i don't know if it could work as smooth as Greek or Norse myth. I mean, imagine Kratos get angry again and slaughtering all Egypt gods sounds weird after Kratos character development in Norse myth. Maybe it's time for a new character?
As much as I love the God of War series, I wouldn't have touched a live service entry with barge pole.
Fair shot and smaller game are my poll picks. I don't even like the Norse era. It's not for me. Then again even if a smaller game I'd probably still hate it but if the AAA budget ones are as pushed of elements and as particular as Norse era was nah. I don't even care whether it's Greek or otherwise, it's not just the combat it's the scale. Norse scale was just repetitive enemies and other moments I just didn't care about. Greek era was more impressive with set pieces, Norse era didn't impress me yet has a lot it can do with it.
Eye poking a Water God in 3 or even walking on a chain with a statue in the background for scale in 2 or other moments was more impressive to me than anything in Norse era. The camera or locations made a difference. Norse didn't impress me of it's environments at all. The level design just wasn't doing it for me. Characters were fine, can go either way really. Tone was fair for what it was going for. Doing missions I didn't care for. Tomb Raider I didn't mind how it handled it but I didn't want to play much of Rise either, not touched Shadow but beat 2013 twice, God of War 2018 I didn't like that mission approach in it. Both IPs I go around to late, no nostalgia.
The universe can work but I think Horizon fit that more.
God of War and Horizon though are about personal stories, I get that. I don't care for them and the gameplay isn't to my liking but it doesn't mean they aren't what they are.
Live service money, insert IP here is all I see. Clueless execs, devs that can't message with people about this, do it anyway as forced to.
Insomniac went eh we will delay our attempts at a co-op game till All For One. Quest for Booty was a PSN title (physical in EU regions besides Nexus disc benefits feature). Let alone having 3D TV support, Move, PSP, PS Vita remote play or crossbuy or something else, PSN online support focus or more each studio had to offer in some way. Think how hectic that was for PS3 era besides the cell architecture just for side features/peripheral support. The demands were crazy.
God of War 'could work' but it's not what people want, it's not what people need. It's not what that IP or universe/characters are built around. Take Kratos or any other generic character and put him in anything than that
Sure a co-op game can work in the Norse era, some generics in the Greek era. Whatever in a new era. But it wasn't what people were buying them for..
Like playable in Mortal Kombat or other things sure but a MP game, it's not what people care for and it's not what PS4 era audience wants or was buying into either let alone the PS2-3 era audience even besides Ascension multiplayer.
@Ashina wasn't the rumor that a collection of remastered with the older games is also being worked on.
well we all know their next game is corey's new ip ( non god of war releated ) also a single player game , ( they need to announce it soon to get people less upset). there was also a rumor that god of war remasters could be coming , and a 3rd game assuming thats the start of a new god of war.
I would like a new single player IP from them, which @twitchtvpat just alerted me to.
Thanks! 😊
I would laugh and think Sony has lost the plot and Ryan has recked the division with his obsession over live service.
@pukana you mean like the new single player ip Corey is working on right now ?
Can't react to something I haven't seen.
How is this even a question? Who wants more always-online cash grab slop?
Sony blew so much money and resources on crap, and I hope they finally get the message after these cancellations.
Ofc next singleplayer GoW game, but honestly i'll welcome remake/remaster first of 3 games.
You missed an option in the what do you want next from god of war poll. Answer : Put the franchise in the vault for 10 years and work on something else.
I just don't understand why BluePoint was working on this.
I'm just glad Jim Ryan stepped down from Sony's management. Guy didn't know what the ***** he was doing (even though still looks like his substitutes are as clueless as he was)
Considering the current poor situation of Sony, I think it will be more accurate to photoshop a clown nose on Jim Ryan instead of sunglasses. Consider the same for Herman Hulst.
It’s almost impossible to say as we don’t really know how they were approaching it.
With Disgust by the sight of misusing one of the best remake studios (Only matched by Capcom) on a freaking multiplayer game!
Also like the other comments I want pissed off Kratos back, I want the GOW 3 Kratos who destroyed anything that moves or even looked at him the wrong way.
I will sigh and lost hope for playstation 1st party games, and I'll only use the console for 3rd party games. Sony is really lucky that xbox gave up and nintendo didn't play in high-spec console space.
I’m imagining a 4 on 4 live service where you have to watch 20 minutes of cutscenes about how sad all the characters feel every match.
Yeah, not my sort of thing.
@AdamNovice That would have been neat, I actually preferred her to Atrues. Me and my brother often laugh that Thor and Kratos should swap kids as they suit each other more 😅
I mean Bluepoint and God of War could go great together...just not with a GaaS title. Would love for them to remake the earlier games, especially part 2, which remains my favorite. Bluepoint is great at doing a specific thing, let them do it.
Obviously, we haven't seen it. Maybe they could have done something super interesting.
But on paper, and with nothing more than "Bluepoint were making a live service God of War game" to go on, it sounds like one of the single stupidest things I've heard in years. Bluepoint - a studio famed for superb remakes - being bought by Sony in an era of quality remakes of beloved franchises... obviously you'd expect them to be remaking a classic and not live service slop.
That alone is bad. But then just the central idea of a God of War live service game. It just doesn't sound appealing to me in any way. I like God of War a lot. But I like being in there, having a story for twenty hours, getting out. What would a live service God of War even be? It just sounds like such a terrible idea.
when will the next brand new god of war game happening it has been more then 2 years since ragnarok came out..
It depends what type of Live service. Honkai star rail, WuWa, ZZZ are all live service single player with some co op elements. If they can do something similar where I can play new chapters every few months instead of waiting years for the next installment then I'm up for that. Would give them a chance to flesh out some of the more overlooked gods/titans/npcs/enemies in the series rich history.
I think you need a sixth option for "sheer undiluted frothing-at-the-mouth indifference"
All this is speculative but IF true, someone either had a really good idea for how it could work OR, it was a forced push for live service by Sony. IF this was the case and it wasn't pitched from the studio first, then it feels like Sony are taking a page out of the EA book of making dev teams work on something contrary to their main skillset and then cancelling it when it doesnt do what they had hoped.
No idea how you would make GOW in a life service game of you cant even make it work with something like Twisted Metal.
going by the poll results , it’s depressing knowing that most ppl didn’t care and/or like the original god of war games .
Why wasn't "I would have been ambivalent" an option? That's generally my initial response to these kind of things. Now a follow up to Ragnarok and I've have been intrigued, but as soon as I hear 'live service' I find the cobwebs in the corner more interesting... Although in this instance I might have been inclined to find out how it was going to work, because I can't figure out how for the life of me....
@nomither6 That is not a conclusion you can make from these polls.
We had to choose one option. I would prefer the series to continue, so i voted for a new one. Doesn't mean i wouldn't like to see remakes of the earlier games. But, i couldn’t pick both.
The option of the remakes in this poll means: Are you done with the series and are only willing to revisit earlier titles? That is what you got in those 17%.
I would have chuckled, shaken my head and didn't care further except for ridicule.
Live service games suck donkeys balls and thankfully Sony are now realising this.
Damn PushSquare, will you stop shilling the live service model? This is getting beyond ridiculous. Listen to the feedback of your readers. Have some dignity, for crying out loud.
My feelings about hearing a live service game being announced is the same as my feelings about hearing that one got cancelled. Indifferent, other than the people attached to the project, I don't really care.
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