Sony Interactive Entertainment will apparently stop supporting first-party cross-generation releases once God of War: Ragnarok rolls out.
Taking to Reddit earlier today, insider and data miner Onion00048 claimed that God of War: Ragnarok will be the last first-party game to release for both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
PlayStation Studios will only be targeting PlayStation 5 from 2023 onwards unless a first-party developer “desperately wants” a cross-generation release.
Furthermore, the newfound initiative to port PlayStation games to PC will also “become more and more gradual” from 2023 onwards.
It should be noted that Sony has reportedly decided to keep producing PlayStation 4 consoles in 2022 to ease pressure on PlayStation 5 production. The report was taken as confirmation that Sony will continue to support cross-generation releases for another couple of years.
If God of War: Ragnarok really is the finish line for Sony, PlayStation 4 owners might not be too happy to see PlayStation 5-exclusive releases during a time when Sony itself is pushing the previous-generation console into the market due to supply shortages.
God of War: Ragnarok was previously slated for 2021 before being delayed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The announcement of the delay was also when developer Santa Monica Studio confirmed the sequel to be cross-generation for the first time, which was not met kindly by fans due to parity concerns. That the developer will be forced to hold back the PlayStation 5 version in order to ensure a similar gameplay experience on PlayStation 4.
God of War: Ragnarok will conclude the Norse saga of Kratos and his son Atreus with an ending that has been ominously teased to be “something surprising yet inevitable.”
God of War: Ragnarok remains to receive a release date. There stands a chance that the sequel gets delayed again for a release in early 2023. Santa Monica Studio is strongly speculated to be preparing an announcement to soon confirm the release plans.
