The advent of a new console generation is always interesting. On the one hand, it’s a period of excitement as we prepare for big new IPs, significant leaps in technology and intriguing new moves from the major companies. On the other hand, it can be stressful for developers to start optimizing for a brand new set of hardware, just when the current generation has been figured out.
God of War director Cory Barlog discussed these sentiments, along with the PS5 on Animal Talking hosted by Gary Whitta (who’s also the lead writer for Square Enix’s upcoming Project Athia). He noted that, “With every generation, it always feels like we master the generation, right, then it’s like ‘oh, there’s a new one coming up,’ and you’re like ‘but I just finally got this one. But I think this is going to be a little bit different.
“It feels like we’ve got a really good foundation of understanding, so transitioning between generations is going to be a little bit less of a massive leap of faith.” Nevertheless, Barlog said he’s always a “little sad” when a generation changes because “I feel like all the cool tricks that we learn, now we have to learn all these new tricks.
“Which is great, that’s fun, but, you know, you feel a little bit less in control of things.” Thankfully, with the PS5 – and the next generation in generation – developers won’t be going “back to square one” when it comes to mastering the technology. As for what excites him about the PS5, Barlog felt the solid state drive was “just amazing” and believes “There’s some really cool stuff I think we’re gonna be able to do.”
The PlayStation 5 is slated to release this holiday season. While Sony didn’t release any new details about it at yesterday’s State of Play, an announcement is rumored to be taking place this month. Sadly, it seems that we’ll be waiting a good long while before anything is revealed about the next God of War.
