Cory Barlog stood on a stage in San Diego and finally said the thing fans have been waiting years to hear. The next big God of War chapter is in development. Kratos is leading it.
Then came the catch.
Santa Monica showed up with two announcements, not one
The studio came to San Diego Comic-Con 2026 to lay out what’s coming, and the headline item was a release date for God of War Laufey. That was the news everyone expected.
It wasn’t the news that mattered most.
Barlog, head of creative director at Santa Monica and the person responsible for 2018’s God of War, used the same appearance to confirm officially that the team already has the next major entry in the series underway. The one with Kratos. And, we’d assume, Atreus.
You’re going to have to play Laufey
Here’s the part that’ll split the room. Barlog said the Kratos game arrives after Laufey, and that its story connects directly to Laufey’s.
Which means skipping the Faye game isn’t really an option. If you want the next Kratos chapter to land, you’ll need to have played the one that sets it up.
Some players will bristle at that. Others have been reading Laufey as a side dish since the moment it was revealed, and this reframes it entirely.
What Barlog said, word for word
He kept the details thin, which is its own kind of answer. But he did offer this:
“Everything we do in Faye’s game is a continuation of what came before, but also preparation and expansion for what follows. Everything inside the game is setting up something really amazing!”
That’s the whole reveal. No window, no platform specifics, no footage.
Read the room, not the roadmap
Santa Monica has confirmed the existence of the game and its position in the release order. Everything else is blank space.
What we know: Laufey ships first, it has a date, and Barlog says it carries real weight for the story that follows. The Kratos game comes after. The two are linked by design, not coincidence.
That’s a studio telling you the appetizer is load-bearing.
Barlog didn’t share more than that. He didn’t have to. “Something really amazing” from the guy who rebuilt this series from the ground up in 2018 is a sentence people will be turning over until the credits roll on Faye’s story.
