In a recent series of events, a game developer working on the next God of War said she was sexually abused and assaulted.
This week, Sony announced that the God of War: Ragnarok will not be coming out this year. Instead, it will come out sometime next year. The company said it was to give some time to the developers so they can work on it more.
One thing is for sure. The developers won’t have to crunch like CDPR made its staff do when working on Cyberpunk 2077. Although the announcement was received positively by the gaming community, some were quick to express their disappointment.
But, it seems like the matter did not just end with people cursing Sony. Alanah Pearce, who also happens to be a Twitch streamer, said she was sexually abused the day the company made the announcement.
Alanah expressed her sadness but said that she expected this to happen when she was chosen as a developer.
Anything people don’t like that happens at SMS in any capacity going forward, regardless of my involvement, will be considered to be my fault to a significant portion of the public and I was aware of that when I took the job.
Pearce said she was talking to her partner when she received the message.
I was on the phone to my partner when I got it and was like ‘OMG YOU WON’T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED, I’M A REAL GAME DEV!
Since the incident, the God of War director Cory Balrog has come forward to defend Alanah Pearce. However, he also made a statement saying the name.
He told the abuser that it was his call to delay the game’s launch and that if he wanted to curse someone, he should curse him. He went on to say,
Every single human at the studio is there specifically because they are fucking EXCEPTIONAL at what they do. We are better because of them. Hell, I am lucky anyone is willing to lend their talent and intellect to my bullshit. For some reason they do, and I love them for it.
God of War: Ragnarok will now be released in 2022 and available on both the PS4 and the PS5.
