God of War Creator Reveals Why Kratos’ Original Name Was Abandoned

It seems that Kratos was almost the god of a very different realm: pizza. God of War creator David Jaffe revealed on X that Kratos was originally named Dominus, until a relentless onslaught of Domino’s Pizza jokes made him reconsider.

“Dominus sounded brutal, and violent, and dominant,” Jaffe said. “I just loved that name. I thought it was great. But then something started happening at the studio. The people on the team started making Domino’s Pizza jokes. Every single time someone said Dominus, someone inevitably would yell out ’30 minutes or free’ or ‘Get the door, it’s Dominus,’ or talk about the f**ng Noid. After about the 50th time, the writing was on the wall. Dominus was dead.” It’s worth noting that Dominus isn’t a Greek name, but a Roman one derived from the Latin word for “lord” or “master.”

Jaffe went on to explain that someone printed out a massive list of ancient Greek male baby names for him to sort through, but none of the ones he picked stuck. At this point, the game’s marketing lead, Susan Panico, pitched the name Kratos, which resonated with the team. Jaffe later realized that Kratos was on the original list of names, but that he had missed it entirely. “I guess it goes to show you how much of success in games is just luck and timing, and in this case, marketing.” In Ancient Greek, kratos means "power" or "strength," so it was a pretty apt name for the protagonist.

After the original God of War debuted in 2005, the series went on to become one of Sony’s biggest franchises. The first four mainline games (and multiple well-received PSP titles) were set in Greek mythology, before 2018’s God of War soft-reboot brought Kratos to Norse mythology, where he learned to be a bit less of a cartoonishly murderous monster man.

What’s next for the God of War series?

The next God of War game is God of War: Laufey, another installment in the Norse mythos. It will be the first game in the series that won’t star Kratos, instead following Faye as she battles through the afterlife to save Kratos and their son Atreus. It’s set to release on Feb. 16, 2027.

After Laufey caused “controversy” for starring a woman, Santa Monica Studio made it clear that Kratos will return as the game’s protagonist in an untitled sequel. Earlier this year, the studio confirmed that remakes for the series' original three games are also on the way. A TV show based on the 2018 God of War reboot is in the works at Prime Video, with Dave Bautista starring as Kratos. More than 20 years later, the god of war is still going strong.