Sony has revealed that God of War: Ragnarok is the fastest selling first-party game launch in PlayStation history.
Revealed in a tweet (below), 5.1 million copies of God of War: Ragnarok were sold during its debut week. As the post points out, this naturally means it set a God of War franchise record as well.
The figure presumably includes both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 copies, as well as physical and digital sales, but several games spread across two platforms have come and gone before it without hitting such a record.
Congratulations to @SonySantaMonica for making God of War Ragnarök the fastest-selling first party launch game in PlayStation history! 🪓 pic.twitter.com/NPgN6YHRnQ
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) November 23, 2022
In comparison, God of War (2018) passed 23 million copies sold on PlayStation 4 and PC as of November 2022. Back in October 2021, it was reported that the game sold 19.5 million copies, but its launch on PC pushed it to a new audience.
It was also Sony’s biggest launch on PC to date, and it’s certainly possible that Sony could bring God of War: Ragnarok to PC and boost its sales there as well.
Sony Santa Monica put a lot of effort into the game, with even its villains such as Heimdall, Odin, and Thor given plenty of care to make them fully realized characters.
In IGN’s God of War Ragnarok review, we said: “Reflecting its core themes, it’s everything a sequel should be: respectful of its legendary lineage, but not afraid to take it to exciting new places. God of War Ragnarok is an almighty achievement and creates a new high that makes many of its peers look positively mortal by comparison.”
George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. He’s been writing about the industry since 2019 and has worked with other publications such as Insider, Kotaku, NPR, and Variety.
When not writing about video games, George is playing video games. What a surprise! You can follow him on Twitter @Yinyangfooey