God of War, which has had its sequel announced in a brief logo teaser, recently notified fans that the sequel will be delayed. God of War 2 is now targeting 2022 as its release window with the hopes of granting developers more time for polish.

God of War developer Santa Monica Studio has been purposely tight-lipped about the sequel, besides the God of War sequel's cross-gen announcement. However, while many fans may be disappointed with the new release window despite the advantages a delay might have for the game's final product, several abusive messages have been sent to a developer.

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The sequel's delay has influenced an anonymous individual to direct hateful comments at Alanah Pearce, who is one of the junior writers and female developers working on the God of War sequel. Pearce has since publicly come forth about the messages sent to her. The messages Pearce has received are abusive, graphic, and profane, but having shared them in the light of public exposure online has garnered the developer a resounding amount of support in replies to the thread.

Cory Barlog, God of War's creative director, has promptly issued his own thoughts concerning the developer's wrongful treatment. Barlog's comments in the thread demonstrate the respect he the director maintains for his coworkers and fellow developers at Santa Monica Studio as he comes to the defense of Pearce and any developers who may be suffering targeted messages as a result of the delay. Barlog insists that any hate directed at developers be directed at him instead, but another God of War developer has also offered a statement with regard to the sender's intent.

Raf Grassetti, God of War's art director, has issued his own response to Barlog's statements. Grassetti insists that instead of the abusive messages being targeted to the God of War sequel's development delay, the messages are rather "an attack to women" due to the misogynistic or sexist choice of words and profanity that the anonymous individual has selected.

Abusive, threatening comments affecting women in the video gaming industry have been given public exposure as of late, such as comments that were targeted at Laura Bailey for playing a controversial character in The Last of Us 2. Many fans were unsurprised when Sony Santa Monica had announced the delay of God of War's sequel. But the delay has been used as an outlet hateful comments, whether because of the sequel's development status or discrimination.

God of War's sequel is currently set to launch for PS4 and PS5 in 2022.

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Source: Cory Barlog - Twitter, Alanah Pearce