PETA has taken issue with the depictions of animal violence in God of War Ragnarok and one mid-game boss, in particular. Earlier this week, the nonprofit took to social media to voice its displeasure with the game’s treatment of a giant wolf-like creature from Norse mythology that players have to fight before reaching a certain location. Unlike PETA’s recent protests against Kyle Rittenhouse’s Turkey Shoot, the tone of its latest instance of game criticism suggests that the statement is meant to be more of a publicity stunt than a completely serious stand for animal rights.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is one of the most well-known animal rights organizations on the planet, not least because it’s fairly up-to-date with the times, as evidenced by its long track record of successful politicization of video games. Over the years, PETA’s use of gaming to highlight not just the human mistreatment of animals but the very perception of what constitutes animal abuse has led to everything from meta protests of Animal Crossing: New Horizons to attempts to remove cockfighting from Far Cry 6.
While some Twitter users seemed sympathetic to the sentiment, others took issue with what they deemed was a publicity stunt on PETA’s part, calling for the organization to do more to help real-life animals instead of “trying to get noticed by commenting on popular things,” as one person put it. Historically, PETA’s stances on video games have been somewhat inconsistent, as exemplified by its decision to criticize Far Cry 5 for fishing while ignoring its rather elaborate depictions of animal violence which were part of the core gameplay loop.
Digital mythical animal rights aside, Santa Monica Studio’s latest game has already been a massive hit. According to recent reports, God of War Ragnarok started breaking sales records from day one, thus neatly rounding out Sony’s 2022 lineup of PlayStation exclusives.
God of War Ragnarok is available now on PS4 and PS5.
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