Former senior managing producer of art at Sony Santa Monica, Rich Fleider, has revealed through an update to his LinkedIn profile that 2018’s God of War and 2022’s God of War Ragnarök have together made more than $1.4 billion in combined sales. He noted the milestone as having happened when he was still at the studio, which involved him leading over 70 internal artists and hundreds of external partners worldwide.
Other highlights Fleider has noted include his tenure at Gearbox Entertainment, which involved the development of Borderlands and Borderlands 2, which have gone on to sell over 100 million copies.
Looking to the future of the God of War franchise, Sony Santa Monica confirmed just last week that it is going back to the series’ roots and working on remakes of the original trilogy. It is worth noting that no information has been revealed about the remakes, aside from the fact that it is “very early in development,” and that it will be “a while” before more concrete details are revealed. The announcement was made by original Kratos voice actor TC Carson, indicating that he might reprise the role, rather than the character’s newer voice actor Christopher Judge.
Aside from this, Sony, alongside developer Mega Cat Studios, surprised everyone with the release of God of War Sons of Sparta – a 2D side-scrolling action platformer with Metroidvania elements. The title focuses on a much younger Kratos and his brother Deimos, as the two set out to figure out what happened to one of their fellow cadets.
The God of War franchise began life with the release of the first title on PS2 back in 2005. It went on to become a massive hit, selling more than 4.6 million units, and spawning a sequel just a couple of years later – God of War 2. Being much grander in scope, the title was even better-received, and sold more than 4.2 million copies in a shorter span of time than its predecessor. The original story of Kratos seeking vengeance against his father Zeus was capped off in 2010’s God of War 3 on PS3, which was once more even grander in scale and critically-praised.
The series has also seen quite a few spin-offs, including PSP titles like God of War: Chains of Olympus in 2008 and God of War: Ghost of Sparta in 2010. A prequel of sorts was released in 2013, dubbed God of War: Ascension, and even introduced multiplayer to the franchise. The title went silent after this, however, until 2018, when we saw a soft reset of protagonist Kratos in God of War. Taking place a number of years after the previous adventures, 2018’s title features a calmer Kratos that has learned to grow into a less angry man, and the plot largely revolves around him and his son, Atreus, traveling through a Norse myth-inspired world to scatter the ashes of Atreus’ mother.
At the time of publishing, God of War Ragnarök serves as the last game in the franchise, having brought an end to Atreus’ story in a satisfying way. However, the franchise is likely far from over, and we will undoubtedly get more titles down the line. A live action adaptation of the series is also in the works, starring Ryan Hurst as Kratos.