God of War Laufey Announced As Faye Prequel During State Of Play Meeting Sharp Criticism From Original Developer David Jaffe
The newly announced State of Play showcase saw Sony reveal God of War Laufey, a prequel adventure which will tell the story of Faye, Kratos’ wife. Despite the shock announcement being discussed throughout the gaming community, original God of War developer David Jaffe released an outpouring of criticism over the new title, stating in a live reaction broadcast that the design choices of the next project are dubious.
David Jaffe, Creator of God of War, reacts to the reveal of GOW: Laufey.
— Grummz (@Grummz) June 3, 2026
"That looks like shit...reminds me of Forspoken"
"So uninsipired, so dull."
"It's dead. That game is not going to do well."
David is gonna get a lot of crap for this, so props for him calling it.
But… pic.twitter.com/KwEj4gYJoi
Jaffe didn’t hold back on the game’s visuals or the concept, comparing its presentation unfavourably to other recent fantasy titles, and described in a livesteam broadcast just what he thought of the trailer:
What was that garbage Laufey What is that It looks like complete trash
He further analysed the commercial performance that this game will have, suggesting the title lacks any spark or ideas needed to break through the highly competitive market. By comparing it to the much maligned Square Enix release Forspoken he proposed that the project has no future:
To be honest with you, it reminded me of that game Forspoken. In my opinion, it is completely uninspiring and looks flat. This game is dead. It is not going to do well, certainly not as well as they expect over there.
The developers also came under fire for the changing tonal direction of the series, with Jaffe claiming that the essence of the original games had been systematically stripped away. He lamented the loss of the gore and visceral nature from the series, which began when the protagonist Kratos was reinvented in the 2018 reboot and he claimed the now generic Kratos became the character of a Disney movie and this is simply a fantasy game riding the brand.
You got rid of the violence and brutality of the early games. You got rid of the character, although that happened in 2018 because that guy clearly stopped being Kratos. Now you have thrown away the defining mythology. This looks like a generic fantasy. If you throw away the God of War name, it is just a story about some deceased goddess. You would not even be discussing this.
With the number of likes on the YouTube trailer being over twice that of the dislikes, it's clear the response from the gaming community is extremely divided, and many were also making jokes about Kratos falling in love with Faye after she double jumped (as can be seen in the reveal trailer) when compared to the close combat playstyle of the rest of the series.
