Yoshida visited the studio about six months before its game was eventually released, and his reaction was less than stellar.
"I mean, the framerate was terrible, everything just felt bad... He's playing, he's got scrunched up shoulders, head shaking a little bit," Said Barlog. "I definitely get the feeling while he's playing that he's not having the greatest of times - which is great. I mean, it bums me out a little bit, but that's what I brought him in here for."
When he was done, Yoshida apparently "just shook his head and walked out the door". Barlog recalls, "He never told me how he felt. In fact, he only told one of my friends, who he saw at a party. He [Yoshida] said, 'Oh, you're working on God of War? I just gotta say, I played the game the other day. I was horrified.'"