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Update: Santa Monica Studio has shown as little of God of War Ragnarok as possible prior to release, so it’s a shame to see the game break street date and begin to leak. Subsequently, the developer has released a statement, pleading with fans to keep story information to themselves. It adds that it’s doing its best to “limit the exposure of unsanctioned footage” but admits it “cannot catch everything”.
The studio then goes on to suggest that players mute specific keywords or hashtags associated with the game until launch day. Obviously, it’s gutting that it’s come to this, but that’s just the way of the world we suppose.
Original Story: An idiotic reviewer had already spoiled some sections of God of War Ragnarok earlier in the month, but now things are about to get really wild, as retailers begin to break street date. Santa Monica Studio has been keeping its hotly anticipated sequel under wraps, and still very little is known about the title – even two weeks prior to its release.
However, with the game now in consumers’ hands, it’s going to be difficult to sidestep some of the spoilers that will inevitably come out. Cory Barlog, the director of the previous God of War, took to Twitter to express his displeasure, referencing the recent situation with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which only has 70MB of data on its Blu-ray:
Barlog continued: “Sorry to everyone that you have to dodge the spoilers if you want to play the game fresh. Completely f**king stupid you have to do this. This is not at all how any of us at Santa Monica Studio wanted things to go.”
To be honest, all we can really suggest is to go into this game as blind as you possibly can. That may mean reducing your time on social media and YouTube, but it’ll be worth it in the long run. Hopefully Sony can be vigilant in getting offending videos taken down prior to the game releasing, but as you no doubt know, once something is on the Internet it’s incredibly difficult to remove it forever.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 66
Sony should release it early
@Would_you_kindly Unfortunately, it's not that easy.
Two weeks early I can understand his frustration but the bit about "having just an installer on the physical disc" is just dumb.
Cory does bring up an interesting thought. As dumb as the 70mb COD thing is if GOW was like that Sony would have the final say when it goes live and so could avoid this situation. I can't say I agree with him but I see what he means.
@Anke Yeah, if the major publishers (who wants to kill physical media) just made it so that consumers could order the physical versions through them directly, then this is less of a problem. By trying to just waste resources (talk about being delusional about climate change) on physical plastic media, but only include such a small amount of data, which would just be a verification to download the digital copy, then why not just drop the physical media altogether.
They could actually just start getting the Collector's Edition out, since that only includes the game as a digital key.
I usually get my physical copies early as well. Usually 3 to 5 days before release. But I wouldn't blame Sony if they went a CoD type of route in the future because of stuff like this. This will probably be the day I'll switch to digital though.
Why have discs at all in that case? It's grossly irresponsible to waste all that plastic, materials and energy for a download in a box.
In my opinion, a better solution would be to release the game digitally first, then have a physical copy with all the patches a few months down the line for collectors.
My oh my how God of War has changed from when I fell in love with the series. It used to be Kratos was angry and then have some DMC style fun in a mythic setting. It sucks if you play GoW for the story, but I could do with a return to a gameplay fun focus as opposed to everything being about the story these days anyway.
Shops that do this if caught should have a fine so high it sends a message.
@pip_muzz GoW 2018 was both gameplay and story, it had the best of both worlds.
I hear that.kratos the g.o.a.t. 🐐 👑.word up son
I wonder why they don't have contracts with retailers that make them pay up if they break the street date. Especially for a big game like God of War, doubt a retailer would want to miss out on that cash.
And people wonder why the trend is towards digital releases, and why collector's editions contain only a code to download the game... Well... "here's your sign!"
Before I even read the article I said "this is why they might eventually kill physical because of crap like this" lo and behold Cory Barlog thought the same. This is shameful.
Jesus 2 weeks early?! That's just insane. Can they not at least sue these ***** stores?
This totally explains why on my YouTube algorithm there was a gameplay video that was like Thor versus Kratos that wasn't just that leak that happened a little bit ago that was like 30 seconds it was like a good 15 minute long video, the auto play showed a very small amount of it. I was thunking: what the hell, how did this even get on here without being taken down I don't understand how that doesn't get stricken down as it had been posted hours prior to me seeing it show up in the home page.
Either way, f those that spoil things for adsense revenue on YouTube. Shouldn't revenue be stricken if it's essentially leaked before official retail release date?
**Spoiler**
Kratos and Atreus have got nothing on Amicia and Hugo.
Sometimes embarassed to be a gamer when crap like this happens, shows us all up as geeky entitled ***** that dont have the maturity to wait on stuff.
@get2sammyb I know still abit annoying that these people get it early & I gave Sony my money months ago when I pre ordered it & have to wait
I'm doing everything to stay spoiler free and hope that nothing is posted on push square about the story.
Like I'm doing with the dragon Prince, episode 1 is on youtube. I'm staying away from it because I want to be able to binge the whole thing. 😂
@get2sammyb It's not that hard TBF. I used to work at Game when I was at uni and we'd have loads of stock in way before release. For digital they just need to change the date of release to let ppl download. Remember the PS5? I still have flashbacks. 😂 I watched the presentation ready to pre-ordered in the morning. Got up early to find sold out everywhere after some retailer jumped the gun.
Spoilerage is just pure spite and should be treated as a hate crime against mankind.
Imagine going into Tlou part 2 unspoilt with no idea what was coming... It would have been mind bottling. But, these dirty swines robbed me and many others of that and for what?
Fine them all to oblivion. From the shop that sold it, to the sh*thouse that leaked it!!!
Ask Sony why they sent it to retail this early
@TheDaddyOtaku You realise that it’s not just a chap at the Sony Building sending a box of discs via UPS right?
It’s millions of copies of a game sent to a hundred countries around the entire world through a complex Freight network of Shipping, rail and Lorries via Thousands of ports, warehouses and distribution centres to tens of thousands of retailers and they all 100% have to arrive before the release day, a single day late would be terrible.
“i get paid two weeks early!!” smh
@Michael2008ish love the original god of wars too , they’re way more my type of games . i don’t think it’s an old fashion thing
Making a big deal out of this aren't they? I don't see how it's difficult to avoid reading a review of the game if you're trying to. And I love that games come out early physically. I've been benefiting from that for decades. What's there to complain about here?
That's what's going to kill physical media. A minority of people getting lots of attention making a huge deal about stuff that's been happening longer than they've been alive. A review of the game already out there? Easy to avoid why get mad? There's always going to be spoilers out there.
@Anke he was making a joke at a time when he was highly emotional because something he loved got ruined by idiots who don’t deserve nice things.
Let’s give the guy a break.
@Old-Red
Personally, I think game discs should have the full game on them without exception.
If you are buying a physical copy of a game but have to download the entire thing it is false advertising. Likewise, buying broken products is against consumer rights. I don’t know how gaming companies get away with it.
If you can’t place the disk in the console and play it offline straight from the disc then don’t release it physically. But some companies just don’t care about game preservation or their customers.
@MrXinaThong are well that's easy. Stay on nice sites like this one where people aren't generally mean. Go to IGN and you're asking for trouble 😊
..but I get your point 👍
So here’s an idea whether gamers have got their mits on the physical game early or not, there still should be a lock on it so they can’t play it until the 9th November, right, digital gamers who pre ordered the game can’t play it early so why should physical pre orders be any different. Have a lock on it so even if they got it a month early, it doesn’t unlock till the 9th November. No spoilers then.
@Kienda you're right. The disks should have the game without exception just like that have done for decades. Buying a disk that's just a key should be against trading laws as it assumes Internet access and treats the game like a digital product, where there is no expectation from the buyer.
@andy24king terrible idea. I've spent 30+ years playing games a couple of days early because they come in the post. It's part of the benefit of physical. Don't punish the majority for the actions of a minority, and punish the right people, the retailer who broke the date 2 weeks early. That's not normal.
So uh... who is this retailer that broke the street date? Just asking for a friend.
@Michael2008ish wow finally someone speaking my language. The original games are still amazing
@riceNpea wise words and let’s see where this COD strategic move goes. It should just simply state INTERNET connection mandatory on the box.
@andy24king that's an awful idea, physical games don't need more drm issues and this would only cause more problems then it solves
Do they know which retailer? Assuming they wont be seeing any repeat business, or at least a visit from Sony's legal team
@andy24king seems pretty simple, implement an allowlist (aka whitelist) of available games on the console which is updated every time you're online. If you put in a disk that's not on the list then it tells you that you can't play it, and if you're offline it prompts you to connect to the server. The whole thing could be implemented in the part of the OS which deals with installing and launching games without being active at any other time.
While toying with the idea as a thought exercise I considered allowing an entry with a date in the future when it becomes available, but without verifying against a server then it becomes vulnerable to people messing with the system clock. As proposed it would still be vulnerable to people with hacked consoles, but you'll never fully deal with that, and people who haven't installed the update that added the allowlist feature.
It sucks that it forces you to connect to servers to play a physical game, but you should be installing firmware updates anyway, and you can play anything that was released prior to the last time you connected without issue.
@Michael2008ish totally agree, I do like the new ones. But I'm the same love original games more.
@theheadofabroom DRM in all but name? Terrible Idea!
@Michael2008ish here here dude im glad im not the only one who prefers the older gow games
Curious why games breaking street dates have different rules than books. If a retailer breaks a street date on a book, most of the time if another retailer can prove it, then they in turn can sell the item early.
Can't remove it from the internet so easily?
Simple solution, avoid watching any of their useless posts.
I could write so much more but words based on my thoughts here won't solve anything
@Rob_230 I remember when GAME and HMV broke the Pokemon X/Y street date and the punishment given was that the whole of Europe had to wait a week longer than the rest of the world for the release of the next 2 main series Pokemon games (Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire and Sun/Moon).
@Elodin yeah but if that was something they could do, they'd have to spread the word stupid fast or else you half the people with the game and half without, which means much more massive spoilers and annoyance overall it just wouldn't work out well.in the end
@Grumblevolcano Thats a very Nintendo response to the situation (i remember them cancelling the Zelda Netflix series because its announcement got leaked) and surely just lends itself to spoilers (assuming anyone is playing pokemon for the lore)
I remember working at MVC when the gta games released on the xbox (big silver box,first time on xbox) and we sent one of our employees down the street to GAME and HMV to see if he could buy a copy early..HMV wouldnt sell (this is the wednesday) untill release day friday but GAME bit and sold a copy..so we phoned HMV and said what had happened so we both put them on sale..GAME phoned us and asked why we were breaking the embargo so we told them and then produced the receipt which had the time,date,till number etc...surprisingly GAME didnt pursue the matter further..This happens a lot and i doubt it will ever change but 2 weeks early is taking the p*ss..
I think the best the solution for all games are to include a lock system. There must be a way of doing this. So the system allows you to play the game but only starting on release day.
@EquiinoxGII
That requires the system to always have internet connection. Then people get upset again. Never ending cycle.
If your waiting to play god of war. Just dont look at anything online about it before you play it. That easy. These sites aint posting spoilers in the articles or titles. Its if you read comments
Yes it is unfortunate but it has been the case for a gd while now that street release dates get broken quite often ,I'm not surprised really but not good ,and yes unfortunately the only way to avoid any info about the game is don't go near gaming you tube channels,limit Internet gaming news or don't look at it at all ,it's such a huge shame this sort of thing has to happen though as ragnorak is a game I was planning to get in the new year but it will get increasingly difficult to avoid potential spoilers,maybe with that news I may get it quicker now
1 thing is its gonna be a fantastic game
GOTY 100%!
"It's easy, just avoid the internet (and thusly, anyone irl who might have been on the internet)" isn't the big-brained solution some of you think it is.
You got to chill like epmd say.im always staying away from spoilers.and especially the g.o.a.t god of war 🐐 👑.word up son
@Yaycandy very true. Good point. Tbh I always avoid spoilers, on YouTube sometimes it's very difficult when videos just pop up. There has to be something they could do though. If anyone ever comes up with a solution that doesn't require the internet, they'll be minted.
Unless these companies lock games out without a day one patch THIS WILL NEVER STOP.
@Mince
I think you misunderstood my comment. I don't really care personally if someone gets to play early but I was just saying I see what Cory was saying about the idea and why a company like Sony might consider doing what Activision does with COD.
All that said, I'm glad Sony has not taken that route. I think you should take your own advice and relax yourself friend.
Thought I'd had it spoiled for me yesterday then realised it was a joke post 😅
@EquiinoxGII the best solution in my opinion is to release digitally first & then physically later that way when the physical version is launched it could include post launch updates
Seems a bit unfair to demand a huge change to the physical industry just because of one unfortunate incident.
Are there any other examples of this? (no last of us doesn't count, that wasn't a physical disc escaping)
@Uromastryx very true, would be messy
@dschons This will be the ill stop buying firstparty games.
@Mince No man if i play a singleplayer game for the story how does that make me a crybaby if someone spoils mayor plot points or even endings.
Whats the use if i know the story before i even played it? Your remark i quite baffling and for its even a stupid response.
@Kienda Finally someone who understands digital has nothing to do with preservation its just to line their pockets even more. From Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft or whatever company its just a way to control the game market. And ofcourse Activision Blizzard and the worst one is Ubisoft i dont they released a complete game physically on a disc in a decade.
@Flaming_Kaiser You do you. It won't stop me from paying for games. It's an annoyance. Yet, not big enough to abandon my passion for the medium.
Spoiler: the kid is still a little s*it
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