We live in an age where well-known individuals who are tied to creative projects have to be very, very careful about what they tweet, lest they set off a firestorm of speculation that goes nowhere 90% of the time. November 7th has a lot going on. It’s N7 Day (a celebration of Mass Effect). It’s countdown to Death Stranding day. And it’s also the day that God of War Director Cory Barlog set the internet on fire by tweeting something weird and mysterious.
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<END TRANSMISSION>
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..
.— Cory Barlog (@corybarlog) November 7, 2019
His tweet reads <END TRANSMISSION>, flanked above by a few dashes and below by progressively fewer dots from three to one. Is it morse code? A countdown of some sort? Barlog also changed his Twitter profile picture, header image, and bio. His profile picture is now the Voyager 1 satellite while his header portrays a galaxy of stars. Barlog’s bio simply reads “….. ….. …. … .. .” As of three days ago, on November 4th, he began issuing his original tweets in all caps as well. The God of War director is known for his sense of humor and ability to have a bit of fun on social media. If it were just the odd tweet, that would be one thing, but the whole thematic change to his Twitter profile is sparking discussion about what might be going on.
Is Kratos headed to space next? Probably not. Some speculate that Barlog is teasing a sci-fi-themed Sony Santa Monica game. He has talked about wanting to explore other projects beyond God of War, and there was word of a space-themed game in the works at Sony Santa Monica prior to focus being turned to Kratos and his son. Honestly, however, this seems like it would be an odd reveal, particularly on a day that Sony is trying to draw attention to Death Stranding as Kojima and friends count down to release. On the other side of this coin, Sony may want to keep the conversation going beyond Death Stranding, so teasing a new first-party project on the day it releases fills a hole in the hype and conversation around Sony titles.
Others have speculated that this “end transmission” is teasing the end of Barlog’s time with Sony Interactive Entertainment. The company has undergone a massive shift internally as many high-profile figures that were instrumental in the PS4’s success are either leaving entirely or moving into other roles. To add to the speculation, the Morse code (if it is Morse code) after <END TRANSMISSION> does translate to S I E, the abbreviation for Sony Interactive Entertainment. This also means his Twitter bio translates to 5 5 H S I E. (Again, if the dots are even intended to be Morse code.) Take that information for what you will.
For now, Barlog is leaving it up to the internet to keep on guessing. What do you think his mysterious tweet and profile change is hinting at?
