God of War Ragnarok's Director 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 that God of War Ragnarok is finally out, but there were a lot of ups and downs in the road to release. The sequel to 2018's God of War was delayed, pushing it from a 2021 to a 2022 launch. Even this year, there were some who thought God of War Ragnarok could be delayed again.
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's release, there have been stellar reviews, early looks at some gameplay, and even some unexpected pieces of marketing such as a new God of War Ragnarok trailer featuring Ben Stiller, LeBron James, and John Travolta.
While the hype train for God of War Ragnarok has 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's Director Eric Williams talked about how difficult it was to follow up the critically acclaimed 2018 God 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 that God of War Ragnarok wasn'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. Considering God of War Ragnarok has had very impressive review scores so 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 before God of War Ragnarok was meant to be released. However, beyond the pressure of succeeding the 2018 game, God of War Ragnarok's director also 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 between God of War and Ragnarok as seamless as possible, and from the game's reception so far, it seems the director has succeeded.
God of War Ragnarok is out now for PS4 and PS5.
Source: GQ UK
