PETA Calls Out Garm’s Depiction in God of War: Ragnarok

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals(PETA) is a leading animal rights nonprofit organization focused on raising awareness and calling out animal abuse by food, textile, and entertainment industries in the world. PETA’s evident politicization of video games has brought into highlight certain instances regarding ill treatment of animals, and even sparked meta protests for fair treatment of digital animals in Animal Crossing: New Horizons and removal of cockfighting in Far Cry 6.

PETA has called out the depicted animal violence in God of War: Ragnarok, specifically pointing to Garm, who is a mid-game boss.

BOY, it’s like Grey Wolf Sif all over again.

If you’re cold, they’re cold. Tyr was wrong to chain this pup up and leave him outside in the freezing cold of Helheim.@SonySantaMonica we need a “PETA mode” so #GodofWarRagnarok can be played without violence to animals! 🐺 pic.twitter.com/AQ0x7n8K1s
— PETA (@peta) November 16, 2022

The nonprofit organization expressed its displeasure upon seeing how the giant wolf from Norse mythology was treated, even frowning upon the Norse god Tyr for chaining up his pet.

PETA equated Garm’s wrongful treatment to that of Grey Grey Wolf Sif, a boss from the 2011 RPG Dark Souls. It also called upon the God of War: Ragnarok team at Santa Monica Studio to introduce a “PETA mode” to the game which would be animal friendly, thus eliminating the boss fight with Garm.

PETA Asks God of War: Ragnarok Developers to Introduce PETA Mode — Garm

Some on Twitter argued that the true intention behind this social media post seems to be for publicity rather than taking a stand for animal rights. A user even suggested PETA should do more to help real animals instead of bringing attention to digital content.

How about instead of trying to get noticed by commenting on popular things, maybe worry about the fact that you do so little good for animals when all that money you raise could just be used to actually help animals, like all the ones that get put down in shelters you support…
— Errør 404 (@World_Eater_88) November 18, 2022

A couple of years back, the organization expressed its disapproval of the fishing depicted in Far Cry 5 but did not seem to have a problem with its graphic scenes showing gory animal violence.

God of War: Ragnarok is already a huge success. The sequel broke sales records from launch day itself, rounding out Sony’s 2022 series of PlayStation exclusives. What a way to end the year, right?

God of War Ragnarok is available on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.

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About God of War Ragnarok

God of War Ragnarok is an action-adventure game developed by Santa Monica Studio and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was released on November 9, 2022, for PS4 and PS5.

Ragnarok is the ninth installment in the God of War series, chronologically, and the sequel to 2018’s God of War. Loosely based on Norse mythology, the game is set in ancient Norway and features series protagonists Kratos and his young son Atreus. The events of the game are expected to initiate Ragnarok – a series of events that, according to Norse lore, bring about the end of days and the death of the Norse gods.