‘God of War: Ragnarok’ goes gold a month before launch

God of War: Ragnarok has gone gold a month before it is released, Sony‘s Santa Monica Studio has announced on Twitter.

“We are thrilled to announce that God of War: Ragnarok has gone gold,” the studio said on its Twitter page, before thanking fans and its partners “for supporting us over the course of development”. It finished by mentioning that we’re “almost to launch and can’t wait for you to play”.

A game going gold in 2022 doesn’t carry the exact same meaning as it used to. In previous years, it referred to the creation of a “gold master” which is a finalised version of the software that is sent to manufacturers to create discs, cartridges and other physical forms of the media.

It used to mean the game was finished, but in the digital age of live service and constant updates, the work doesn’t stop here for Santa Monica Studio. The game is likely to continue to be in development leading up to release, and post-release will receive updates, patches and bug fixes no doubt.

After the game being delayed due to Kratos’ voice actor, Christopher Judge, facing health problems, the studio has had an extended period of time in order to work on God of War: Ragnarok ahead of its November 9 release date.

Recently, God of War: Ragnarok had a new trailer revealed, which told of some plot for the new instalment. “Atreus hungers for knowledge to help him grasp the prophecy of ‘Loki’, as Kratos struggles to free himself from the past and be the father his son needs,” it said.

New details for the revamped combat system were also announced last month, with new elemental attacks and a redesign for Kratos’ iconic shield.

In other gaming news, Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden have received a release date of January 19, following the launch of Persona 5 Royal later this month.