President of Sony's Worldwide Studios, the lovable Shuhei Yoshida, was apparently very unimpressed by God of War when he played an early version for the first time. Cory Barlog recounted the tale during his talk at Devcom, and it's pretty amazing to hear the Shu was so negative about a game that would become a huge success.
Because Santa Monica was building the engine as it was working on other aspects of the game, development was long and complicated, which meant that it wasn't until very late in production that it began to take shape. Yoshida visited the studio about six months before its game was eventually released, and his reaction was less than stellar.
"I mean, the framerate was terrible, everything just felt bad... He's playing, he's got scrunched up shoulders, head shaking a little bit," Said Barlog. "I definitely get the feeling while he's playing that he's not having the greatest of times - which is great. I mean, it bums me out a little bit, but that's what I brought him in here for."
When he was done, Yoshida apparently "just shook his head and walked out the door". Barlog recalls, "He never told me how he felt. In fact, he only told one of my friends, who he saw at a party. He [Yoshida] said, 'Oh, you're working on God of War? I just gotta say, I played the game the other day. I was horrified.'"
In the short time between Yoshida's visits, Barlog and the Santa Monica team were able to make vast improvements, and his next encounter with God of War was much more positive. It's hard to imagine that the game was in such a poor state just six months before launch, but it's equally incredible that it's now one of Sony's most successful exclusives ever.
[source gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 20
Wow, sounds like it made a substantial turnaround. So it begs the question, why can’t other developers accomplish similar feats in the last 6 months?
6 months...no wonder Cory (and the team) was in that shape after the reviews came out
@Th3solution Some studios simply may not have the talent or, more likely, the budget that was given to Santa Monica.
On a related note, today is New Game+ Day for God of War!
This is a great story.
atleast they worked their asses off to make it better and of exelent quality. huge respect for that.
if only other big devs with the money they have could do the same.
i doubt EA even bothers to test their games at all.
bethesda can also learn from this for their elder scrolls and fallout games.
At least Cory didn't take how Yoshida acted negatively and have it impact the game for the worst.
The game could've been delayed and we would be talking about how hyped we are to play it this December.
god of legendary.word up son
Makes me optimistic we can get the second game relatively soon, maybe 2 years, if they spent all that time building an engine and then tweaking it to perfection.
I hate to say this b/c it goes against everything I believe in but if ever a game needed a $40 DLC follow up 12 months after release it's this one. I don't need another 40+ hour game, I'll settle for 20 hours ending with a big boss battle in Midgard. Let them finish up with a new huge game 3 on PS5 in Asgard.
Similar situation with what Neil Druckmann said about the delay of The Last Of Us. That short time they delayed it turned it from a 6/7 rating to 10/10
@AFCC Cory was really tired during the last PSX in December. Impressive what they did with the game after this feedback.
Everybody acts so surprised that the game was a success and I just don't get it. I'm surprised the game felt as 'God of War' as it did given how from what was shown it seemed like a huge departure (though admittedly it's tough to get a feel for something you can only watch, not play) but as far as the game selling well... God of War was always a big hit for Sony. It was only Ascension that underperformed critically and commercially. But the hype was always going to be there for the next mainly entry in the series on the PS4 and it's selling as should've been expected. The fact Sony wasn't confident in the game during a lot of its development stages is concerning. Says to me that there is some clueless people there.
@Turismo4GT I think u were right the 1st time because devs who have had the budget behind them still release poo! Money helps but talent is priceless!!!!!
@Gamer83 Yea well clueless 🤔 Only clueless, untalented developers could release such an amazing game. Do u think that u may be just a little
clueless yourself ? It is called talent! Quality game making!
But, still, always will we have people who cry about anything and everything!!!!! I don't know if u have played it but having played it, clueless is the last word that springs to mind!!!!!!
Sounds like they were lucky he only saw it 6 months from release. Much earlier and he'd probably have said "nope" and canned it.
@Lloydeeee
I wasn't talking about the developers, I was talking about people within the walls of Sony who had questioned the game. Hell it's been reported that Sony didn't even want a new God of War at first, Barlog had to deliver a great pitch to make it happen. Before calling me clueless, maybe try understanding what I posted. I love the new GoW and have stated several times on this website it's my current favorite game of 2018.
Yeah I remember while I was at psx and they were doing their couch talks.....Cory looked so stressed out lol
@Lloydeeee As per community rules
Do not use profanity; Use of unsavoury language including profanity and swearing is not acceptable, please remember that this website has users of all ages.
Now I had to edit two of.your posts in this section and you have been warned in the past of your language, next time will get you a vacation from the site.
Also as part of the community rules insulting others is not accepted here either so if I were you I would think before I post.
Thanks for understanding
I think this is misleading. I'm a software developer and my take/guess is that this "miracle" of turning around things in 6 months doesn't come out of thin air... it was possible because everything was perfectly planned and that was the development roadmap. That's why almost every other developers/teams cannot fix a poorly running title in 6 months, 12 o even ever. If it was really like Cory shouting "we are 6 months from launch and the game is running like crap, oh God (of war) please fix our code before we get our a** kicked by Sony!!" , then it was really a miracle.
@Gamer83 Whats strange the game ran terrible and yes i would not have another GOW like the old one. The last one on PS3 was kinda boring it was kinda good but nothing special. Thats why the PS4 version was so great in my eyes. So my point is Sony knows their stuff.
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