PlayStation boss dodges God of War: Ragnarok PS5 exclusivity question

A week after the PlayStation 5’s release in the US and other regions, we’re on the verge of finally seeing Sony’s new console launch in the UK. As we enter the crossover period for console generations, questions are being asked about exactly which titles will be exclusive to the PlayStation 5 – and in the case of God of War: Ragnarok, Sony doesn’t seem ready to give an answer.

In an interview this week with the Telegraph [paywall], PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan refused to confirm PlayStation 5 exclusivity for the God of War sequel, explaining he had “nothing to say about that today”.

Games such as Astro’s Playroom, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and the Demon’s Souls remake have already been confirmed as PlayStation 5 exclusives (the former serves as a free PS5 tech demo for the DualSense, Ratchet & Clank most likely needs the PS5’s fast loading to teleport players, while Demon’s Souls was released as a PS5 launch title). But in the case of several major first-party titles such as Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Sackboy: A Big Adventure and Horizon: Forbidden West, Sony has confirmed the games will be cross-gen.

The topic is particularly interesting in light of fan concerns that launching games as cross-gen titles will prevent them from reaching their full potential, due to the need to simultaneously cater for the more limited capabilities of the PlayStation 4. “The first thing to say is that our PS5 experiences or versions of these games are built from the ground up to take advantage of the PS5 feature set,” Ryan said. “So I think offering a PS5 version of these games for the PS5 community and then a PS4 version of these games to the PS4 community… I don’t see what’s wrong with that. We’ve got a community of PS4 gamers 100 million-strong. It would be wrong to walk away from those people too early.”

As for answers about God of War: Ragnarok, it looks like we’ll have to wait a little longer for the final confirmation of its release platforms. Or platform, perhaps.

Elsewhere in the interview, Ryan defended the £70 cost of next-gen games such as Demon’s Souls. “If you measure the hours of entertainment provided by a video game, such as Demon’s Souls compared to any other form of entertainment, I think that’s a very straightforward comparison to draw,” Ryan said.