Both Horizon Forbidden West and the upcoming God of War sequel were suspiciously absent from PlayStation's first State of Play event of the year. These games are currently slated to be PlayStation 5's biggest releases of 2021, but their lack of presence at the event means news of a potential delay wouldn't be totally unexpected.
With the PlayStation 5 now on the market, it's time for PlayStation to begin pushing first-party games to the system. While a few of its featured games drew attention, the most recent State of Play was fairly disappointing, and the absence of Horizon Forbidden West and God of War was a huge part of that. These are the main, high-end PlayStation 5 games anywhere close to release, and yet they are nowhere to be seen.
Since their original reveals at last year's PlayStation 5 showcase, very little has been shown of either Horizon Forbidden West or God of War's sequel. With both aimed for 2021 releases, many fans' State of Play expectations included seeing something from these two games. This is especially the case for God of War, which has shown absolutely nothing outside of a brief teaser trailer revealing it was in development. The lack of presence from either game will naturally turn thoughts towards whether or not this is an indication of an upcoming delay for one or both.
Could PS5's Horizon Forbidden West & God Of War Be Delayed?
The COVID-19 pandemic has already shown its effects on many 2020 and 2021 video game release dates, so it's hard not to associate that with the absence of Horizon Forbidden West and God of War at the State of Play. These are already important titles for PlayStation, and video game releases are likely to be subject to even more scrutiny following last year's Cyberpunk 2077 situation. If development on either game has been impacted enough as a result of the pandemic, a delay for both could be coming; however, PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan did recently say Horizon Forbidden West is coming later this year, so perhaps only God of War is in danger of being pushed back.
Right now, nothing about the release of Horizon Forbidden West or God of War is certain. Both games are still scheduled to come out this year, but the February 2021 State of Play could be the first indication of an underwhelming year of game releases, across the board. Still, that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. There is a lot of excitement surrounding Horizon Forbidden West and God of War, and it would be incredibly disappointing to see these games released before they're truly ready. If nothing else, it's interesting that both games were completely absent from the first major PlayStation event of the year.