Prominent games industry journalists have criticised the Mail On Sunday for its ‘outrage’ over a headless goat carcass being used at a Sony God Of War II event.

The Mail called the game launch ‘depraved’ in its front-page weekend story, under the banner headline ‘Slaughter’.

80,000 copies of Official PlayStation Magazine, which reported on the Greek event with full pictures, have been recalled by Future Publishing.

Veteran industry writer and regular contributor to The Times Tim Wapshott told MCV: “Given that two just days earlier MCV had announced that the Mail was stepping up its games coverage, along with a quote to the effect that no other middle market newspaper would be covering games in such depth, it made me wonder if the screaming Mail on Sunday story is what they have in mind.

"In fact, It seemed such a desperate splash that instinct told me it was a mere holding story that had been hastily promoted through the paper – because something had gone wrong with the intended front page story they had really been planning to run.”

Senior games journalist Steve Boxer, who often writes for The Guardian and The Daily Mirror, added:

“Whether Sony should have involved itself in it is a moot point, and the game of Chinese whispers leading from OPM to the front page of the Mail on Sunday is unfortunate. Still, the law of averages states that, one day, one of the Daily Mail's games outrage front pages will actually be a real story, rather than a frothing at the mouth generated by hearsay, assumption and a lack of understanding. But I won't be holding my breath.”

For the full story and even more industry reaction, read this week’s MCV, out Friday.