SIE Santa Monica creative director Cory Barlog has stepped in, after some people have been hostile about the news that God of War Ragnarok would be delayed to next year, taking it as free reign to harass studio employees.

Alanah Pearce, who last year joined the team as a writer, was the target of harassment, with toxic netizens thinking her outwards-facing persona and woman-status meant that she was the reason for the game’s delay.

Pearce even posted a screenshot of the message, which we won’t show for some pretty graphic content, joking about it as her “first game-dev related abusive message”.

In response, Cory Barlog took to Twitter, telling people to redirect their anger over the delay to him instead.

“For real, y’all, this is some BULLSHIT! You want to be mad at somebody for ANYTHING GOW related – the delay, ps4/5, trolls, subtitle size, Sigrun, whatevs – be angry with me. I made the calls. I did this”, Balrog tweeted. “Don’t bother the team, they are all very good people doing great work.”

He also went in to bat for the team, calling them “f*cking EXCEPTIONAL at what they do”, highlighting the importance of the team.

Standing Up To Harassment, An Editorial

Standing up for your employees is an important part of a leadership role, especially when they’re part of vulnerable groups prone to online harassment. No matter how well they can play it off with a joke or with a sharp burn, women get targeted with harassment way more than men do, and in response men, especially those in power, should be expected to do a lot more than blanket “all harassment is bad” statements.