God Of War Laufey Avoided GTA 6, But There's Still A Major Problem

Published Jul 26, 2026, 11:00 PM EDT Kyle Gratton is an editor and writer based out of Kansas City. He received a bachelor's degree, dual majoring in English and History with a minor in Film and Media Studies, and has been a senior staff writer and reviewer for Screen Rant's Gaming section since 2021, with roles in editorial, and various freelance projects. A terminal Midwesterner who graduated from the University of Kansas, Kyle also has knowledge and interest in literature, film, film adaptions of literature, and history. Find Kyle on Bluesky: kwg.bsky.social and Letterboxd: KyleG5 It's nice to have a release date for God of War Laufey so soon after it was announced at State of Play in June with nothing more specific than a "coming soon" message. What I expected to be a long wait will turn out to be just eight months when Laufey arrives on February 16, 2027, a release date that was announced alongside confirmation of a new Kratos-led God of War coming next. Santa Monica Studio has managed to sidestep the deluge of game releases coming in August, September, and October, and perhaps more importantly, is giving Grand Theft Auto 6 a wide berth. Even before Rockstar Games announced GTA 6's release date, other games were avoiding this Autumn like the plague, and now that it is penciled in for November 19, other games are either jumping on the pile ahead of time, or waiting to launch next year. A lot of games try to get out before the holiday season, but if they have to be pushed into the new year, they usually land in February or March, often to be tallied before a publishing company's fiscal year ends. God of War Laufey has officially joined a stacked February. February 2027 Has A Handful Of Major Releases Looking ahead from here at the end of July, we're in for a very busy few months of new games, but the most impressive release slate on the horizon might be next February. God of War Laufey joins four other major franchise releases: Tomb Raider, Persona, Fable, and Metro. Four of five have exact release dates already set for February 2027; here's the schedule: Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis – February 12 God of War Laufey – February 16 Persona 4 Revival – February 18 Fable – February 23 Metro 2039 – February Two of these are remakes, but they're highly anticipated and expected to be transformative reimaginings of their respective originals. Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis will be an especially bold reinvention, since it's a remake of the original Tomb Raider from 1996. Persona 4 Revival is similarly revamping an aging game, the original Persona 4 from 2008, and likely won't change quite as much as Tomb Raider, but Atlus's Persona remakes are always looked forward to nonetheless. Laufey's other February competitors are new entries in series that have been quite dormant. It has already been seven years since the last mainline Metro game, the longest in the series' history, and it will be interesting to see how 2039 builds on Exodus while taking the story back underground into the Moscow metro. Fable's wait has been even longer—Fable 3 came out in 2010. Playground Games (heretofore responsible only for the Forza Horizon series) has taken over development, and pre-release gameplay has shown an ambitious evolution of the series' classic social simulation and adventuring gameplay. Is God Of War Laufey In Trouble? There's certainly a lot of competition in February, but Santa Monica Studio (or Sony) chose this date knowing the other titles that were slated, and of the five franchises, God of War is arguably the biggest. Tomb Raider is the most significant rival for that claim, and while remakes often sell very well, a brand-new God of War game likely won't have any issues moving copies just four days later. Despite the PlayStation 5 generation seeing very few true exclusives, and Sony still getting lambasted for ceasing disc production in 2028, Laufey is going to have a lot of attention on release. If anything, Metro 2039 is the game in the most precarious spot. Metro has steadily grown in popularity, but its survival horror leanings make it less approachable than many of its February 2027 peers. I find it unlikely to bomb—dedicated Metro fans have been impatiently waiting since Exodus—but the return of God of War, Tomb Raider, Fable, and Persona all in the same month is nothing short of a gauntlet. God of War Laufey may have avoided GTA 6 by releasing next year, but it jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. Developer(s) Santa Monica Studio Publisher(s) Sony Interactive Entertainment Prequel(s) God of War, God of War Ragnarok Franchise God of War Number of Players Single-player