As noted by various Twitter users over the past day (via resetera (opens in new tab)), retailers have begun listing merchandise for the new game. In the UK, Geeky Zone lists apparel and plushes with an estimated release date of September 30. Elsewhere, retailer Entertainment Earth is offering a similar selection that is claims is “coming in June 2022.”

A batch of God Of War Ragnarok merchandise have been spotted on Geeky Zone in the UK with majority of them with having an September date. Source: https://t.co/VSLoeeNPLa pic.twitter.com/VW6hyeTJ0CMay 26, 2022

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All of the items listed come from Jinx, a US merch store with official ties to PlayStation, which has previously provided items for a number of Sony titles, including the Horizon series and the 2018’s God of War. 

The appearance of the merchandise came around the same time that a rating for God of War Ragnarok appeared on the Korean rating board. While there’s been no news from Sony yet, that’s two clues in quick succession which seem to hint that we’ll be getting a release date announcement relatively soon. A not-insignificant period of radio silence on that front over the past few months lead some to believe that God of War Ragnarok might have been delayed out of 2022, but there’s now renewed hope in a late summer/early fall launch. If that’s the case, an official announcement seems increasingly likely, particularly with the E3 2022 conference season on the horizon.

The likelihood of some kind of showcase also rose with the appearance of a project that appears to be Returnal on PC storefront Steam. Codenamed Oregon, that listing references Housemarque’s roguelite multiple times, but once again there’s been no official confirmation from Sony, meaning a show could take place soon.

Struggling to keep track of all these developments? Our list of upcoming PS5 games should make things a little more simple.

The post God of War Ragnarok merch appears to be arriving this summer appeared first on Game News.

In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz (opens in new tab), PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan confirms that – unlike the Xbox Game Pass model – first-party games won’t launch at the same time on the new PS Plus service as they do at retail. 

“[In terms of] putting our own games into this service, or any of our services, upon their release… as you well know, this is not a road that we’ve gone down in the past. And it’s not a road that we’re going to go down with this new service,” Ryan explains. “We feel if we were to do that with the games that we make at PlayStation Studios, that virtuous cycle will be broken. The level of investment that we need to make in our studios would not be possible, and we think the knock-on effect on the quality of the games that we make would not be something that gamers want.”

However, Ryan does admit that this decision isn’t set in stone, and may be subject to change in the future. 

“So I don’t want to cast anything in stone at this stage. All I’m talking to today is the approach we’re taking in the short term. The way our publishing model works right now, it doesn’t make any sense. But things can change very quickly in this industry, as we all know.”

What we do know is that in June, PS Plus will switch to a three-tier subscription model – Essential, Extra, and Premium. Essential is basically PS Plus as it is now, while Extra adds a catalog of 400 PS4 and PS5 that you can download and play. Premium adds another 340 games from PS3, PS2, PS1, and PSP generations, cloud streaming, and time-limited game trials. 

For now though, here are the latest and greatest PlayStation Plus deals (opens in new tab) 

The post PS Plus wont get day one launches like God of War Ragnarok appeared first on Game News.

God of War: Ragnarok is getting a major change behind the scenes with Eric Williams taking over as creative director, and, in an interview with GamesRadar+, former lead Barlog tells us it’s a “weird, ethereal ‘stepping outside of yourself concept'”. 

He says: “I’m sort of on the sidelines. I’m like Burgess Meredith [Rocky Balboa’s trainer], just sitting there outside of the ring telling him ‘No pain, Rock, no pain,’ not really helping that much.”

Joking aside, he continues: “It is definitely that weird, ethereal ‘stepping outside of yourself concept’ where you’re challenged on a daily basis to know when to take your hands off the wheel, right? To be able to be there – to be the sounding board – to set a few of the expectations and say ‘these are important, let’s make sure we hit these,’ but to really try to place yourself in their shoes. As a director, you don’t want somebody else telling you this is how I would do it.”

Barlog and Williams chat with GamesRadar+

God of War’s creative director on the emotional saga of Kratos and Atreus

Williams is no stranger to the God of War series – in fact, he’s worked on every God of War game – and that trust seems is evident from Barlog saying: “His take is his take and his take is influenced by his relationship with the team and their take on everything. So that is kind of this amalgam – this mesh – of every single thing, and it’s unique to those moments in time.”

Our interview with Barlog and Williams follows last week’s God of War Ragnarok name reveal trailer. That gave us our biggest look yet at the follow-up to the 2018 action classic, with new characters – including a beefy Thor design – and locations ending the PlayStation Showcase. While there’s no release date yet for the game, we do know that God of War Ragnarok will also be landing on PS4 as well as PS5 when it eventually brings the cataclysmic Norse event to our consoles. 

For more on what games are heading to PlayStation, check out our upcoming PS5 games list.

The post Cory Barlog on stepping back from directing God of War Ragnarok: “His take is his take” appeared first on Game News.