David Jaffe Not Interested In Returning To God Of War Series

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If you’re a fan of the David Jaffe-led God of War entries, then we’ve got some bad news for you – Jaffe has said that he isn’t interested in returning to the God of War series any time soon. That is, he isn’t interested in going back to the franchise unless the development of God of War makes a major fundamental shift.

Just what kind of shift, you ask? In a post on his personal blog, Jaffe wrote that he isn’t interested in working on another God of War title unless the development focus makes a shift from story to gameplay. That might leave you scratching your head, especially considering that the story of Kratos can be considered pretty rich by most action game standards, but here’s how Jaffe breaks it down:

A lot of people ask me if I’d ever make another God of War (assuming that opportunity was offered) and I always say the same thing: if it were God of War meets something like Zelda (formula wise), then yes (aka Darksiders, right?). But if it were God of War using the current formula, I would not. For me – and this is just me PERSONALLY (I get and respect not everyone shares this same thinking) – directing God of War made me realise that as a game designer (and certainly as game director) I want our games to serve the gods of GAMEPLAY first and foremost.

Really, Jaffe makes a lot of sense. You can have a compelling narrative, but if the gameplay isn’t there, you don’t have much of a game to market. That isn’t to say that developers shouldn’t work on making a good story, of course:

Games can have story (and many should, such as God of War) and most games – even pure play games – should have strong world and IP, but working on God of War made it clear that – for me – if we have to cut a set piece or bit of spectacle because of our desire to put play first, then so be it. Ideally, the BEST games are those that do both.

Jaffe went onto to talk about games like Angry Birds, Mario, and Madden, which are almost all gameplay and hardly any story. He pointed out that, often, the games that focus on gameplay before anything else are not only the most successful (when developed correctly), but also the easiest to make.

Even though I’m big fan of quality narratives in the games I play, Jaffe makes quite a few good points. What do you think? Should story come before gameplay? Should graphics? Do you think that gameplay should come before everything else? Head down to the comments section and tell us what you think!