It sounds like God of War Ragnarok was actually set to release on the 11th November before the date was moved forward to the 9th November, as per the official announcement from a couple of weeks ago. How do we know? Well, apparently, quickly deleted tweets from official PlayStation accounts included the 11/11/22 release date, but people managed to grab screenshots before they were deleted. Whoops!
Of course, 11/11/22 was also the release date for Xbox and PC exclusive Starfield, which was delayed to the first half of 2023 back in May. Immediately, people started to wonder whether Ragnarok's date had somehow been moved because of Bethesda's open world blockbuster. As previously reported, the Ragnarok release date announcement was actually delayed at the last minute, suggesting that a sudden change in plans had occurred behind the scenes.
But does this really have anything to do with Starfield? Probably not, according to the ever-informative Jason Schreier, who wrote on ResetEra: "I heard after the announcement that it was indeed planned for 11/11/22, and that the sudden release change to 11/9/22 was why they bumped back the announcement from June 30 to the week after. Not 100% sure why they moved it. I think it was more of a logistical thing rather than anything to do with Starfield."
Obviously that would make sense given the aforementioned Starfield delay — which Sony would have taken into consideration long before committing Ragnarok to a specific date. It'll be interesting to see whether we hear anything more on the matter over the coming months.
Do you have any ideas as to why God of War Ragnarok's release date might have been moved? Raise an eyebrow in the comments section below.
[source resetera.com, via reddit.com]
Comments 40
No idea if this is the true reason but someone from the studio tweeted that Wednesday = Odin's Day
Oh, and also there was a promptly deleted tweet from one of the official PlayStation accounts last week (when pre-orders launched) that had 11/11 in it, so it's probably true that it was the original date.
How much are they going to impact one another?
Each is a console exclusive to their own platform, while PC players only ever had the option of Starfield anyway. I guess the overlap(s) of "PC + PS5" players, "PC + XSX + PS5" players, and "PS5 + XSX" players all would have had to choose which to play first (though would they only have bought 1 anyhow??)... How big of a chunk of the market are those bases that it's worth moving stuff around to accommodate them? And only by 2 days anyhow?
I dunno. Everyone I play with is hyped as hell for Ragnarok. My BiL is contemplating a PS5 just for the series... Meanwhile one person I know has an XSS. And no one thinks Starfield was that impressive-looking (most were burned on early NMS lol). I dunno. I'm probably in a bubble.
Trying to catch the Snitch.
@Voltan would make good sense since we practically call it ‘Odin’s Day’, slightly moderated, here in Scandinavia . Would’ve been nice for game coming on a Friday though.
Sooner is better 🥳🥳. Cannot wait this new amazing adventure.
@emj2010 Tuesday through Friday in English also have norse related names.
@JaphyRider missed a great opportunity to call Saturday Lokiday imho!
@MFTWrecks The date was changed long after Starfield was delayed anyway - if Starfield was ever the reason, it was more about PR (ie. Sony not wanting to look like they chose that date out of spite) than any real effect on sales.
I do think it was a move to avoid butthurt people who would’ve thought it was a douche move to release it the day Starfield was supposed to release.
Choosing GOW over Starfield day 1 is easy, because everyone knows that Bethesda games become great only after modders fix them.
Lol people acting like Starfield matters.
No need for sony to change the date, they should of stuck with the 11th, no need to show respect for starfield, a game that was due for playstation but then got took away.
@Bismarck that's true, it's pretty bad that the modders can do better than the actual devs 😂
Hahaha.i seen that.its would of been too ovious it was taking starfield old date.but its all good.and god of war will definitely be a better game than starfield.word up son
Whatever the reason, putting out a tweet w/ 1 date typed while the photo had the other date, which @ShogunRok somehow managed NOT to include in this article, is still a black eye for Sony, makes them look like morons. 😂
@UltimateOtaku91 Not really. Unlike most developers Bethesda are actually ambitious. They make big games with some exciting ideas that they can never fully realize or polish and they move on to the next thing.
It would be cool to see them release Starfield in a good state, but I prefer that Elder Scrolls 6 gets released before I die. Now that game should be industry defining.
@MFTWrecks I feel like people overreact when multiple games comes out near each other. It's not like the game will stop being for sale, if someone wants both they'll buy both, possibly at some point later one once they've finished the other game.
So in the long term, I think both games will have zero impact on the other's sales.
Epic on PS5 and Epic on PC.
Planning on Playing Both, so glad they are now spread apart. And 2022 is already set, some big games in 2023 is good.
Sony did save the holidays with the GOW move... so whatever the reason, glad it is there
11/11/12 is a little TOO on the nose as a two fingers to Xbox. All for a bit of friendly banter and healthy competition when warranted but that would have just fuelled fanboy fires. We get it two days earlier now so win-win.
@MFTWrecks @Milktastrophe I'm no expert here but my guess is they'll want their games to be the only talk of the town & have no one to compete but themselves, maximising their revenues.
I'm pretty sure both Elden Ring & Horizon Forbidden West could have maximised their revenue had their launch windows been further apart. The same goes for HZD & BOTW even if they're on completely different platforms. Oh, my poor Horizon.
Why would anyone at Sony care about the old release date for a game? I’m with the Schreier explanation on this one, it’s probably some subliminal insanity over the date in the marketing department.
@MFTWrecks It's just two different genres for two different audiences. One is the cinematic "interactive movie" approach with big mainstream appeal that Sony's known for, while Bethesda games in general are pretty much "games for nerds" and always have been. They're very video gamey games that appeal to that more traditional nerdy gaming audience. If your "bubble" is more "average, mainstream" people vs "gaming nerds" it makes sense.
I am surprised though the number of people that complain about how SF looks, visually, even among XB fans. IDK, I expected Elder Scrolls In Space, and it looks like it's TES in Space....I'm happy. But I'm a long time Bethesda fan since Daggerfall on DOS....I have my expectations set on the engine...
It's a little silly to compare the games though. They're just so different and aimed at such different tastes. If they weren't both tentpole platform exclusives I can't imagine anyone would attempt to compare them. It's like comparing Bayonetta 3 to GT7 because they're tentpole competitors...just...why?
They're platform exclusives, it wouldn't make much sense. But if Sony did this, it would've been much smarter to delay Horizon Forbidden West because Elden Ring obliterated its sales.
This story has certainly changed my life. Someone please let me know where I can nominate it for story of the year
God of War is undoubtedly the number 1 selling game of November regardless of the date it released on.
It will easily be the best PS Exclusive game of the year too.
@Netret0120 I’ll be shocked if it beats Pokemon tbh
@SinfulDestroyer lol fanboys getting defensive
@IOI Butthurt who? Starfield will outsell GoW2 any day of the week. I don't think "news" is even worth a post to be honest
@Pat_trick And discourse
@shamirqushairi see, that just proves my point. Despite launching near Breath of the Wild, Zero Dawn has gone on to sell over 20 million copies.
@Legacy2K for reference, the only Bethesda game to outsell God of War is Skyrim. Fallout 4 and God of War are both around 20 million sales. If Starfield was cross platform, I'd agree it would definitely outsell God of War Ragnarok, but I'm not confident Bethesda games will continue to sell as much without releasing on playstation.
@Milktastrophe Of course we are all entitles to our opions but I don't think there is even a chance that a Bethesda space RPG that is releasing on Xbox and PC is outperformed by GoW2.
I guess with GamePass we might never really know anyway.
I'm looking forward to GoW2 either way, 60fps on PS5 will be sweet.
@IOI
Your definitely right that would frustrate some weirdos and we already see it in the comments even with a different date. 🤷🏼♂️👀
However Sony usually couldn’t care less what Ms does regarding games releases and they aren’t wrong considering the lack of.
11/11/22 was a cool date and I don’t see why anyone should feel weird if it that was the launch. Something surely out of context happened and not related the competition. (No I don’t think it was because Spencer’s sending weird pics).
Whatever. The wind that blows is all that anybody knows 😅
Maybe they realized the street date would be broken and they didnt want to hold the game back ? Idk, but 2 days earlier is cool with me
@Sakisa it will be close but I reck9n it wins.
Beating Elden Ring may prove a bridge too far. Hence why I had to say PS Exclusive
@Netret0120 I’m sure God of War will actually be the better game, by quite a large margin too, but it isn’t beating Pokemon in sales. Especially with the crazies that buy both versions.
Game Freak could and has sold half finished games that break sales charts, which is sad but proves the powerful pull of the pocket monsters.
In the US, 11/11 is a national holiday (Veteran's Day, the anniversary of the end of the first World War). That means no postal delivery that day (don't pre-order for delivery via USPS if release day was 11/11, though some other delivery services might deliver packages on that day - but they also might charge extra for a holiday delivery).
Letting it drop a couple days earlier means people have a chance to play it on a day off...if they work in a job that gets those days off.
I'm just happy we finally have a proper date, and people stopped obsessing over it.
@Milktastrophe Maybe they could have sold more than 20 million copies for HZD? Or maybe it was Sony's plan all along trying out a new marketing strategy? I mean, they do get people talking about the game, twice!
Now I don't know what to think anymore 😅
It's a nice date matching those numbers and any company would want to grab it but it would also be seen as a bit of an attack towards Xbox fans. Picking the 9th is a great choice to match Odin's Day and that is a better fit for the game than matching numbers.
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