Major video game franchises have large and loyal player bases. These players are always waiting for something new in the series and their behavior can sometimes be weird. One such gaming franchise with a wide array of players is the God of War franchise.
Players have been waiting for the next entry into the series, God of War Ragnarök. Even though the release is in November and only 5 months away, according to rumors, players don’t know much about the game. Industry insiders did suggest something was coming on June 30 but that did not happen.
Fanaticism can get extreme in almost every form of pop culture. When fanciers don’t get what they want, they don’t react well and that is what happened with God of War Ragnarök. However, some things are not okay in any medium and one of those things is sexual harassment.
Estelle Tigani, the Cinematics Producer working on God of War Ragnarök, faced sexual harassment after the most recent announcement delay for the game. The developer took to Twitter to address this problem and asked players to stop. Since the announcement delay, Estelle Tigani had been receiving explicit pictures asking for the release date of the game.
Pro tip: sending me **** pics asking for the God of War Ragnarok release date will not, in fact, get me to reveal the release date.
To the people who are doing so, when did that ever work for you?! pic.twitter.com/U6Ea1Emi3X
— Estelle Tigani (@estelletigani) June 30, 2022
In her tweet, she said that this will obviously not work and that players should stop harassing her for the release date. The incident elicited a strong response from Cory Barlog, the Director behind God of War Ragnarök. He was very unhappy with the behavior of players towards Estelle Tigani and the development team.
Cory Barlog explicitly asked all players to not send such pictures to the company’s employees or anyone in the industry. Not only is it sexual harassment, but a really ridiculous way to obtain information that the employees aren’t allowed to release. He said that developers put in all the effort to make games and that players should show them respect.
Are you ******* kidding me with this now???
I cannot believe I even have to say this but don’t ******* send **** pics to ANYONE on this team, or anyone in this industry for that matter.
They are busting their ass to make some for you to enjoy.
Show some ******* respect. https://t.co/o0xEZkWouj
— cory barlog (@corybarlog) June 30, 2022
As you might have guessed, some very extreme fanatics tried to shift the blame onto the industry insiders, The Snitch and Jason Schreier. The Snitch, an accredited industry insider, teased that something about God of War Ragnarök was coming on June 30. Jason Schreier backed up this information with a report but this event didn’t take place and the players weren’t happy.
— The Snitch (@insider_wtf) June 23, 2022
Cory Barlog, however, was having none of this blame game and told players to hold themselves accountable. He said that players should treat the people making games for them with kindness and not like this. Everyone is working for the players and releasing marketing information isn’t up to them.
News about the game will only come when PlayStation Studios wants to release something and it isn’t up to the employees. Sexually harassing someone over this is vile and something that shouldn’t happen. Hopefully, we don’t see many such incidents in the future and God of War Ragnarök has a safe release.
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