Being the newbie in the crew is already kind of awkward, but being the weird focus of an angry gamer is a whole other thing. Santa Monica Studio’s Alanah Pearce knows this first-hand as she tweeted out Thursday claiming to have finally been “initiated,” alongside a picture of the offending messages.

Aside from the ones I got for being hired in the first place, I think this is my first game-dev-related abusive message. I’VE FINALLY BEEN INITIATED, LOOK AT ME GO! 🎉 pic.twitter.com/17jNTGGvSx

— Alanah Pearce (@Charalanahzard) June 4, 2021

God of War‘s Cory Barlog took to Twitter to defend Pearce in a swear-filled tweet, acknowledging that any hate about the 2022 delay should be directed to him as it was his call.

For real, y’all, this is some BULLSHIT!

You want to be mad at somebody for ANYTHING GOW related – the delay, ps4/5, trolls, subtitle size, Sigrun, whatevs – be angry with me.

I made the calls. I did this.

Don’t bother the team, they are all very good people doing great work. pic.twitter.com/D5rsvzFmgV

— golrab of the frost (@corybarlog) June 4, 2021

He finished off his post by reminding people that anyone at the studio is there for a reason and that reason is their skills outdo other applicants.

every single human at the studio is there specifically because they are fucking EXCEPTIONAL at what they do. we are better because of them.

hell, I am lucky anyone is willing to lend their talent and intellect to my bullshit.

for some reason they do and I love them for it.❤️

— golrab of the frost (@corybarlog) June 4, 2021

Pearce was hired by Santa Monica Studio as a game writer in late 2020.

The sequel to 2016’s God of War, which fans have taken to calling God of War: Ragnarök, was first revealed in September 2020 and slated to release this year. Since then, though, it’s been pushed to a 2022 release date and also confirmed to also be releasing on the PS4, making it yet another game that can be played on both generations.