Sony Warns God Of War Ragnarok Spoilers Are In The Wild Already
A whole lot of people are excited about the upcoming release of Sony's follow-up to one of 2018's best games, "God of War." It's also looking like a number of people have gotten ahold of "God of War Ragnarok" more than a week early, and unfortunately, some of them have decided to turn their luck into others' misfortune by posting all sorts of story-related spoilers.
Sony released an official statement on the matter in a tweet posted on October 30, 2022, asking anyone who may already be playing the game to please consider those who aren't able to start their adventures just yet, and avoid posting or sharing anything that could ruin parts of the game's plot. The message goes on to advise players who want to avoid potential spoilers to temporarily mute any keywords or hashtags that could be associated with the upcoming title as a precaution.
Though if you really want to avoid getting any story details spoiled for you ahead of time, staying off of social media entirely might be advisable, as it's very hard to entirely avoid content that is popular — particularly if some trolls decide to try and get it in front of as many eyes as possible.
A store is selling 'Ragnarok' copies before release
It was initially theorized that someone who had gotten ahold of an early review copy was accidentally auto-sharing screenshots — many of which were showing more details than had been publicly released up to that point (via Kotaku). Now it looks like that may have been giving the leakers too much credit.
For the moment, the precise details are still unclear, but it seems as though a games retailer (unnamed and possibly still unidentified) began selling physical copies of "God of War Ragnarok" about two weeks ahead of its posted street date (Wednesday, November 9, 2022). Veteran series developer Cory Barlog expressed his disappointment (via Twitter) on the broken street date as well, apologizing to fans for having to "dodge the spoilers" and stating "this is not at all how any of us at SMS [Santa Monica Studio] wanted things to go."
Accidental (or intentional) street date breaking typically can't happen with digital releases due to automated date checks, but physical distribution is another matter, as it relies on people working a thankless retail job being willing to sit on high-demand stock anywhere from a few days to a week or more. It's doubtful this will lead to a change in the way AAA games are distributed prior to release, but it has been a source of frustration for many.