God of War Ragnarok’sDirector Eric Williams has revealed that the development team at Sony Santa Monica was “freaking out” about the game in the months leading up to release. A lot of gamers are incredibly hyped now thatGod of War Ragnarokis finally out, but there were a lot of ups and downs in the road to release. The sequel to 2018’sGod of Warwas delayed, pushing it from a 2021 to a 2022 launch. Even this year, there were some who thoughtGod of War Ragnarokcould be delayedagain.
However, after Sony Santa Monica announced that the game had gone gold last month, those who were worrying about another delay could breathe a sigh of relief. In the weeks leading up to the title’srelease, there have been stellar reviews, early looks at some gameplay, and even some unexpected pieces of marketing such as anewGod of War Ragnaroktrailer featuring Ben Stiller, LeBron James, and John Travolta.
RELATED:God of War Ragnarok Reviewer Gets Death Threat
While the hype train forGod of War Ragnarokhas been rolling consistently since its release date was announced, it seems that the team working on the game wasn’t so confident that it would meet fan expectations. Speaking with GQ,God of War Ragnarok’sDirector Eric Williams talked about how difficult it was to follow up the critically acclaimed 2018God of War. While Williams himself says that he was confident in the abilities of his colleagues, claiming he worked with people “that are at the apex of what they do,” there were others on the team who were “freaking out” three months before the game came out.
There were even those who believed thatGod of War Ragnarokwasn’t in as good of a place as it could be, according to Williams. There were doubts that the game wasn’t good, but Williams then went onto say that he can’t imagine “how they feel today,” implying that there’s likely been a shift in the way the team regards its latest project. ConsideringGod of War Ragnarokhas had very impressive review scoresso far, it certainly seems that these doubts were unfounded.
Matching the experience of an already successful game is a daunting task, as shown by the “freaking out” of Sony Santa Monica’s developers just months beforeGod of War Ragnarokwas meant to be released. However, beyond the pressure of succeeding the 2018 game,God of War Ragnarok’sdirectoralso had to deal with the fact he was taking over from Cory Barlog. Despite Barlog stepping to a producer role for the sequel, Williams stated that he wanted to keep the transition betweenGod of WarandRagnarokas seamless as possible, and from the game’s reception so far, it seems the director has succeeded.
God of War Ragnarokis out now for PS4 and PS5.
MORE:How God of War Ragnarok’s Review Scores Compare to the 2018 Game
