The big god of war sequel is one of the most anticipated video games of the year and you can now play it on Xbox. Yes that’s right, Gods of war Zeus or Childstarring Sony’s video game character Kratos and a horde of identical and generic monster baddies, is currently available for just $4.09 on the Xbox Store.
Oh, you thought I was talking about another game? No, Gods of war Zeus or Child is Surely an approved and legitimate participation in one of Sony’s most valuable franchises sold on a competing console platform.
I promise you will want to play it based on the description of the game only:
War Gods Zeus of Child is an amazing war game. Destroy all enemies and creatures with the Zeus War Gods of Challenge [sic]. Kill them all with your gun. Launch attacks with different combos. Reach the highest monster kills without dying. Feel the power of the warning god.
And if that didn’t sell you, check out this gameplay video from the YouTube channel Red Bandana Gaming:
Okay, I’ll stop joking now. Gods of war Zeus or Child is quite obviously some kind of god of war ripoff that somehow slipped through the cracks and was published on the Xbox Store. I know Sony has been open about releasing more games on mobile and PC, but I can’t imagine it having any plans god of war game to Xbox. And while Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said That God of War Ragnarokthe actual god of war sequel, is the game he prefers to play nextI also don’t think he would approve of this knock-off game.
If the poorly written description and extremely rough video didn’t get you started, as noted by Eurogamer, War Gods Zeus or Child’s developer is a company called Dolaka Ltd. that has crept another blatant rip off on the Xbox store: a Fall Guys lookalike called Dinasaur Falling Survival (yes, “dinasaurus”).
Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge
Microsoft’s strict certification processes usually don’t allow knock-offs to reach the store (as we sometimes see in mobile app stores), but Eurogamer speculates that Dolaka’s titles may be sold through the Xbox Creators Program, which allows Xbox developers to bypass the typical processes needed to publish games. “If your game integrates Xbox services and our standard store policyyou’re ready to publish,” Microsoft says on the Xbox Creators Program website.
You don’t have to read far to find an example of how both Dolaka games would violate that standard Store policy, though. Both titles feature characters who are clearly scammers of Kratos and a Autumn boys bean, and while I am by no means a lawyer, that seems to conflict with Section 10.1.1: “Your product may not use a name, images or other metadata similar to that of other products unless the product is also published by you.”
We asked Microsoft what could be going on here and whether the games will remain for sale. In the meantime I’m going to watch the trailer in real life god of war continued again.
