A Sony event for God Of War II featuring a decapitated goat carcass was heavily criticised on the front page of yesterday’s The Mail On Sunday.

Under the sensational headline ‘Slaughter’, the Mail reported on a Greek launch party for the game in which the dead animal was used as a centrepiece.

According to The Mail, guests were invited to pull cooked offal from inside the goat’s stomach, which was intended to resemble its innards.

Other ancient Greek-themed elements of the event included knives being thrown at targets and live snakes being pulled from pits.

The stunt was covered in a double page spread in the Official PlayStation Magazine. Sony has now decided to recall the 80,000 print run of the issue.

A Sony spokesperson told The Mail that the animal had not been slaughtered for the event, but that it had been bought from a local butcher by the Greek company hired to organise the party.

He added that Sony’s UK office had been shocked to see the report in OPSM, and that the article had been pulled off newsstands because of the “sensitivity of the general public over issues of animal welfare”.

God Of War II was released on PS2 last week.