Since 2005, Santa Monica Studio has been a critical darling of the gaming industry. Their first game, Kinetica, was a racing game released for the PlayStation 2 and marked the company’s debut. Kinetica was well-received then but not nearly as much as the company’s next game. This game put them on the map. The game that would forever be cemented into Sony’s zeitgeist. The game was 2005’s God of War, and the rest is history.
God of War’s success gave birth to numerous sequels and spin-offs. Santa Monica Studio led development on six titles, and the franchise has encompassed the studio’s identity. Excluding games that received external development from them, God of War games are the only franchise released by Santa Monic Studio over the past 19 years. Now it looks like the studio is ready for something new.
This news comes from Glauco Longhi, a game developer with a long history in the gaming industry. Longhi was formerly an employee with Santa Monica Studio, working as a Character Artist on God of War (2018) and God of War: Ragnarök. He left the studio before Ragnarök’s release to work with Striking Distance Studios for their 2022 game, The Callisto Protocol.
Longhi is back at Santa Monica Studio, allegedly working as a Character Supervisor and managing the Character Development department. While Longhi did not give any more details about what Santa Monica is cooking up, he did confess that he will be working on the studio’s new IP. This is causing much excitement as it seems that the studio is turning away from God of War momentarily to work on a brand-new concept.
While I doubt this means God of War will not return, the series is still as beloved now as it was during the PS2 era, it is exciting that the studio is taking the risk with a new IP especially since Santa Monica has long been a company that has a reputation for developing one game at a time. Naughty Dog used to work this way, but, like Santa Monica is doing now, that company split in two.
In Naughty Dog’s case, this occurred in the late 2000s, after the release of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Naughty Dog’s development team were split into two sectors, each creating a different game. One team were developing Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception and the other began work on The Last of Us.
It makes me think that Santa Monica is utilising this strategy. I believe the company have another God of War game in development somewhere within their creative landscape, but they also have this new IP. Regardless of what is fact or fiction, Santa Monica Studio is certainly cooking up something new for gamers to soak up. Personally, I can not wait to see what they have in store.
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