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Up until a few hours ago, the Xbox Store was hosting its own version of God of War, starring Sony"s exclusive character likeness of Kratos. This was due to an absurdly named title called War Gods Zeus of Child that had been listed for $4.09 on the Xbox Store for the past few days. Of course, why wait for God of War Ragnarök when you can play War Gods right now, especially on a platform that does not even have the rights to the coveted franchise?
Although the listing was still present up until a few hours ago, it now appears to have been pulled, as the URL now returns an error code. According to The Verge, it had the following description:
War Gods Zeus of Child is a great war game. Destroy all enemies and creatures with the Zeus War Gods of challange [sic]. Kill them all with your gun. Launch attacks with various combos. Reach the highest monster kills without dying. Feel the power of the warning god.
Kratos with a gun is totally my jam. This is exactly what Phil Spencer was referring to when he said that he"s eager to play the next God of War.
If you"re wondering what the title actually played like, it"s exactly what you imagined. You can have a look at the gameplay below, courtesy of Red Bandana Gaming:
It"s unclear how the War Gods slipped through the cracks, since both Microsoft and Sony are both quite strict when it comes to the approval process for games, especially one that is such a blatant rip-off.
Eurogamer believes that this gaffe may have been due to the game going through the Xbox Creators Program, which allows developers to bypass certain restrictions. Of course, copyright infringement isn"t one of them, so this is still a blunder.
In fact, that"s not all. The publisher of War Gods, Dolakta LTD, has another rip-off in its catalog too. Dinasaur Falling Survival (yes, I spelled that right) is an obvious clone of the popular Fall Guys. Interestingly, it was published on July 29 for $3.99 and has still not been pulled. Here is the description from the active store listing:
How far can you go without dying? Try to pass all the obstacles with your character. This is a complete survival game. If you hit an obstacle, you start over. Move forward without hitting anything. Try to pass all the stages and finish the game. It is a difficult game.
It"s all a bit nuts, honestly. As of now, it"s unclear if Microsoft pulled God of War War Gods from its store or whether the developer removed it themselves. If it"s the former, it"s a mystery why Dinasaur Falling Survival has continued to survive and is still available for purchase.