When it comes to a franchise like God of War, changing the formula literally means changing just about everything about the game. The original saga (which had three main games and numerous spinoffs), featured a Spartan Warrior named Kratos going after the pantheon of Greek Gods in order to get revenge for the loss of his wife at the hands of Ares, among other things. At the end of the third main game, the series seemed to be over. And then, it was brought over to PS4 for an entirely new tale.
But gone was the hack-n-slash gameplay, gratuitous love-making scenes and nudity, and overall gore (yes, there was gore in the new game, but not as much). In its place was put in a much deeper story, several new impactful characters, a new pantheon to be a part of, and most importantly, a much more mellow and wise Kratos. One who was now a father.
Given all of these changes, it’s not surprising that Sony execs were a bit anxious about how well the game would be received. Would people like the new changes? Would they appreciate the effort that the team at Santa Monica put into the title? Or would both they and critics rip it apart?
Thankfully for all, God of War was a major success both critically and sales-wise, and this came as an absolute shock to Sony. During an investor call, the CFO of the game stated that the game “significantly exceeded” what they had planned for it. What’s more, because of the sales dominance of the game (no exact number was given as to where it stands now but it’s well over 5 million), Sony was able to record a major bigger profit for their Q1 in 2018.
Just goes to show that if you make a good game, people will recognize it, even if it’s much different than the last.
