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God of War delayed to 2022, Horizon Forbidden West aiming for holiday launch

By Otto Kratky Published June 24, 2021

A new interview with the head of PlayStation’s Worldwide Studios, Hermen Hulst, revealed a swath of information on the platform’s upcoming first-party games. In the interview, Hulst confirmed the release windows of both Horizon Forbidden West and the upcoming God of War game. According to Hulst, the former is “on track to release this holiday season,” while God of War has been pushed back to 2022.

In the interview, Hulst lists these games as the “two very big, very narrative-driven games in development.” However, their size and scope have also slowed down their production. “And for both of those,” Hulst continued, “they’re frankly affected by access to performance capture and talent.”

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In terms of the next God of War game, Hulst said “we’ve made the decision to push that game out to next year, to ensure that Santa Monica Studio can deliver the amazing God of War game that we all want to play.” While Hulst’s comment on the delay in the upcoming God of War game’s development was slightly vague, Santa Monica Studio put out its own, clearer statement. On Twitter, the developer stated that “We remain focused on delivering a top-quality game while maintaining the safety and well-being of our team, creative partners, and families. With this in mind, we’ve made the decision to shift our release window to 2022.”

Hulst said he couldn’t confirm that Horizon Forbidden West will be ready to ship this holiday season but did say, “We’re working as hard as we can to confirm that to you as soon as we can.”

Hulst also revealed that Horizon Forbidden West won’t be the only cross-generational game coming soon from PlayStation’s studios. The upcoming God of War title and Grand Turismo 7 will launch on both the PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation 5.

While we haven’t seen any news on the upcoming God of War title since it was revealed in 2020, Horizon Forbidden West has recently taken PlayStation’s center stage. Sony recently hosted a State of Play event centered entirely on the upcoming game that featured 14 minutes of new gameplay. However, a release date for the game was not revealed.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Otto Kratky is a freelance writer with many homes. You can find his work at Digital Trends, GameSpot, and Gamepur. If he's…

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