God of War II could have been a PS3 launch title – but wasn’t (spoilers!)

Few may recall that God of War II was released in the same year as the Playstation 3. At the time, some fans wondered why Sony hadn’t moved the high-profile sequel from the aging PS2 to their soon-to-be-released gaming powerhouse – at the very least it would have made a killer launch title. Well, according to a recent Game Informer interview that option was very much on the table. The magazine had a chance to speak with Shuhei Yoshida, Sony Computer Entertainment’s senior vice president of product development, who was very forthcoming about his reasons for sticking with the PS2:

“We had a lot of debates about it, actually. I always firmly stood by keeping it on PS2. Many people, including marketing, suggested that maybe it should be moved to PS3. What I believed was that God of War II would be the best-selling and best game of the year. We had always seen that, at the launch of a platform, the developer has to spend a lot of time becoming familiar with the platform and software tools. Technical issues take up a lot of the development, perhaps leaving less time for really polishing the game. Towards the end of a platform is when you see really great games, after developers really begin to understand the hardware.”

Ultimately, his decision payed off. God of War II is probably THE best looking title on the PS2. Likewise, God of War III’s development has certainly benefited from the PS3’s now familiar and very utilized hardware. And although the first two God of War titles have been directly-ported to the PS3 – it would be quite interesting to see what kind of eye candy a modern day remake would offer. Then again, why mess with a classic?

via Game Informer