PETA wants ’cruelty-free’ God of War mode

Controversial animal rights activist group PETA has sent a series of tweets asking Sony to add a “cruelty-free” mode to God of War Ragnarok.

In a series of bizarre tweets, controversial animal rights activist group PETA has asked a number of games media professionals to push developer Sony Santa Monica to add a “PETA mode” to the game.

PETA, known officially as People for Ethical Treatment of Animals, posted twenty different tweets to a number of games journalists, including the editors of Eurogamer, Gamesradar, GameRant, and GLHF, as well as content creators on YouTube and Twitch, asking for the strange inclusion. The tweets take aim at Garm, a large wolf in the game that Kratos has to defeat in a boss fight, who PETA says was chained up and left outside in the cold.

The group also posted a public tweet, not aimed at any particular Twitter user, encouraging its followers to tweet at Sony Santa Monica and ask for the mode, which it proposes would allow players to progress through the entire game without having to harm any animals. It’s unclear if PETA expects Sony to implement the change, but given the lack of success in past campaigns from the group, it seems unlikely to garner any results.

@FiveTacey BOY, it's like Grey Wolf Sif all over again. We’re asking @SonySantaMonica to create a “PETA mode”, so #GodofWarRagnarok can be played without violence to animals! 🐺 pic.twitter.com/AQ0x7n8K1s

— PETA (@peta) November 17, 2022

PETA has a long history of using video games as a vehicle for its animal rights activism. The group has commissioned a number of parody video games taking aim at popular series that it says feature animal cruelty, such as Pokemon, Super Mario Bros, and Cooking Mama. It also started a similar campaign arguing against Far Cry 6’s admittedly controversial cockfighting minigame.

God of War Ragnarok released earlier this month to near-universal acclaim from games media and fans alike, with news.com.au’s own God of War Ragnarok review calling it “one of the best games ever”. Boss battles in particular were called out as some of the best content in the game, with our reviewer calling them “a proper spectacle”.

God of War Ragnarok was lauded for its spectacular boss fights, with some calling them the best in gaming. Picture: Sony Interactive Entertainment

It’s not been immune to controversy, however, as a number of expensive God of War Ragnarok editions were missing the game. The collector’s editions, which retailed for over $300, were supposed to include two digital download codes: one for the game, and one for some additional add-on content. A number of players reportedly received two codes for the additional content, and none for the game, and some players even reported receiving no codes at all.

Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.