How Sony Almost Killed God Of War

Either way, if "God of War 4" had gone full Egypt (like Assassin's Creed Origins' and its accompanying boss battles), the version we got would've been demonstrably different - not to mention the signature Leviathan Axe would've been notably changed.

At this stage in development, the team became split down the middle as to whether they should continue with Egypt, or shift into Scandinavia and Norse mythology. After taking a vote that resulted in a tie, it was Corey Barlog vouching the for the latter that tipped the balance.

Yes, it all came down to one person's vote - and in this case, that person was the project lead.

All this, and the most retrospectively obtrusive element hadn't entered the fray: Sony.

As was told by Barlog in this impressively frank developer presentation, everything from external testing teams to Sony Worldwide President Shuhei Yoshida appeared to strongly dislike what he and his Santa Monica team were putting together.

Basically, because all the different parts of the game - engine, art design, combat etc. - were being developed in tandem, it was nigh-on impossible to produce a playable "vertical slice" of God of War, to show off. This resulted in all pre-launch builds being less than ideal, and it only caused internal negativity to snowball.

Cont'd...