For the past week, God of War: Ragnarök has been trending on Twitter, though there isn’t any definitive news from developer Sony Santa Monica Studio. Instead, there have just been a series of tweets from “industry insiders” pointing to a potential livestream reveal of the game on June 30. The rumor’s source is cryptic, but now producer Cory Barlog has responded to the growing conversation, asking folks to chill out and “please be patient” when looking for updates.
It all started on June 23 when Twitter user The Snitch tweeted a vague God Of War GIF with what appeared to be binary code:”11110.” In the Decimal System, “11110" translates to “30,” which led folks in The Snitch’s mentions to assume some announcement was coming on the 30th of some month. Another “industry insider” named Roberto Serrano echoed The Snitch’s cryptic message on June 24, tweeting that Sony will share a new Ragnarök trailer alongside a November 18 release date (this year, supposedly) and the ability to preorder the game—all on June 30, with a PlayStation blog post to accompany the reveal. Thus, the rumor mill started spinning outta control, with “industry insiders” left and right claiming something’s happening this Thursday.
Again, neither Sony nor Santa Monica has publicly said anything about Ragnarok. In fact, the last time we officially heard about the game was a May blog post outlining new accessibility features that should finally do away with a gamer’s greatest threat: tiny text. However, according to a Bloomberg report, it appears the studio may be preparing for a November launch.
All that said, game producer Cory Barlog had to step in to shut the recent unruly rumors down. In a June 29 tweet, Barlog said he’d spill all the tea if he could, but decisions like that aren’t up to him. Instead, he implored, folks should just “please be patient” when asking for Ragnarök updates, promising that “things will be shared at the earliest possible moment they can be.”
When reached for comment, The Snitch told Kotaku over Twitter DMs that whatever announcement Sony and Santa Monica Studio had planned for June 30 was pushed back. They refused to provide deets on how they came about their info other than alluding to it being the same as Bloomberg‘s. Either way, The Snitch said the delay left them “more worried” about Ragnarök.
“There was going to be a reveal,” The Snitch claims. “But Sony delayed it. It was not a State of Play or a new gameplay trailer. That’s all I can say. It’s a shame. I’m more worried about the game. To me it means it’s not polished enough.”
The Snitch, who somehow predicted the Crisis Core remake with a similarly vague tweet, doesn’t care much for their credibility as an “industry insider.” They only “open Twitter from time to time” anyway and think “the videogames console community is super toxic.” Still, The Snitch believes folks enjoy their tweets because it makes events, like the Summer Game Fest, “more exciting.”
“I think people like my cryptic tweets, and I’m avoiding legal issues because it is just a GIF and random numbers,” The Snitch said. “And this is why my tweets are open to speculations. We all know how this industry is, and plans are changing from one day to another.”
Kotaku has reached out to Mr. Clutch, Serrano, and Sony for comment.
Updated: 06/30/22, 10.05 a.m. ET: This post has been updated to clarify the substance of comments made by The Snitch.