Copies of God of War Ragnarök have leaked early via unspecified retailers, according to God of War game director Cory Barlog.
The studio released a short statement on Sunday warning players that spoilers for the highly anticipated sequel to 2018’s God of War are now out there for all to see. According to two-time God of War game director Cory Barlog, a retail shop sold copies of God of War Ragnarök nearly two weeks ahead of its release date.
“You know, right now, I can really understand the benefit of having just an installer on the physical disk,” tweeted Barlog, referencing the nearly useless physical disc for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. In a Twitter thread, Barlog clarified that this was mostly a joke, and that he wasn’t advocating for installer-only discs. He clarified that he was frustrated that aspects of God of War Ragnarök might get spoiled for players because of the game’s early availability.
In its statement, Santa Monica Studio assured players that it’s trying to limit spoilers on the internet. However, the statement also suggested that players make efforts themselves to avoid spoilers by muting keywords on social media. The studio also asked players who play the game — early or otherwise — to be considerate to those who either don’t have access to the game yet or are a bit behind the curve.
This is not the first leak that the Ragnarök team has had to contend with this month. A Twitter account that had access to the game — seemingly for review purposes — started tweeting out screenshots from the opening few hours of the game earlier this month.
A cursory search for “God of War Ragnarök spoilers” on Twitter resulted in zero actual spoilers for us. Instead, it’s mostly players spreading the word that spoilers are, in fact, out there, which is heartening. Still, there’s no doubt that spoilers are accessible via the internet — likely creeping around places like forums and subreddits. If you want to protect yourself, consider setting up filters, like Santa Monica Studio suggested, or taking a break from social media until God of War Ragnarök launches on Nov. 9.