God of War Creator Reveals Kratos Was Nearly Named Dominus

Kratos is one of PlayStation's most recognizable characters, but the God of War protagonist nearly had a very different name. Before the original game launched in 2005, Santa Monica Studio considered calling its Spartan warrior Dominus.

The name was eventually abandoned after developers repeatedly joked about its similarity to Domino's Pizza, according to God of War creator David Jaffe.

In a post on his personal blog, Jaffe explained that Dominus remained the character's working name for a considerable period during development.

However, members of the team kept making jokes based on Domino's familiar advertising slogan, turning the proposed name into a recurring source of amusement around the studio.

How Kratos Got His Name

Jaffe credited Susan Panico, who worked in marketing, with suggesting the name that ultimately became synonymous with God of War.

The team adopted Kratos instead of Dominus, giving the character the identity that players would come to recognize across multiple PlayStation generations.

The naming process was not the only part of the original game that underwent significant changes.

Jaffe also revealed that God of War itself was considered under several alternative titles, including Dark Odyssey, At the Hands of the Gods, and Omega.

These early concepts demonstrate how different the franchise's identity could have been before its PlayStation 2 debut.

The original God of War launched in 2005 and established Kratos as the central character of a series that would eventually expand beyond Greek mythology.

Although the Dominus story has resurfaced in discussions about the franchise's development, Jaffe publicly shared the anecdote as far back as June 2008.

It remains an unusual piece of God of War history: one of gaming's most famous character names might never have existed without a marketing suggestion and a running joke about pizza.