God of War: Ragnarok Has a New Director, Cory Barlog Working on Unannounced Projects

Cory Barlog has revealed that he won’t be returning to direct Santa Monica Studio’s upcoming Norse heavyweight God of War: Ragnarök. Instead, the latest installment to God of War will feature series veteran Eric Williams in the director’s seat, while Barlog is moving on to work on other unannounced projects.

In an interview aired as part of the recent PlayStation Showcase, Santa Monica Studios pair Cory Barlog and Eric Willaims confirmed the reshuffle in leadership on the new title, explaining that changing directors has always been a feature of how things are done at the studio.

“It’s always been a tradition here at Santa Monica, to change the directors across the games,” said Williams, who has been at the studio since 2004. “We’ve had really good success with that. Cory is the only repeat director and, you know, rightfully so: he’s pretty damn good at what he does.”

Barlog further expanded on the studio’s decision to change directors between iterations of the franchise talking further about the need for fresh perspectives and the tole that directing a game like God of War can have on a person.

“The important thing for us is to get a fresh perspective each time but also a fresh pair of legs in the sense that you’re really exhausted at the end of finishing one of these things. So you’ve got to con somebody else into doing it – like him.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Barlog was hesitant to offer much insight into what he’d be doing instead of working on God of War: Ragnarök. When asked about what projects he’s working on, the Sony Santa Monica studio creative director said, “Oh you’d like that wouldn’t you, you’d like me to just spill the beans and tell you everything that’s going on right now. We’re actually doing a bunch of stuff, it’s really exciting… but I don’t really have anything I can talk about right now specifically, mostly because we’re really focused on God of War Ragnarök.”

God of War: Ragnarök is set to release in 2024 for both PS4 and PS5. For more on the series, why not check out our full detailed look at God of War: Ragnarök where we talk about the different characters set to join the God of War franchise and what’s next for Kratos and his son.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.