New God of War Game Continues to Quietly Staff Up

Santa Monica Studio is laying the groundwork for its next GoW game.

By Logan Moore

It looks as though PlayStation developer Santa Monica Studio continues to staff up for its work on the next entry in the God of War series. Since releasing God of War Ragnarok in late 2022, Santa Monica Studio has been laying low. The company went on to release free DLC for Ragnarok titled Valhalla in late 2023, but otherwise, it's not known exactly what has been happening internally. Now, based on new job listings, it's quite clear that God of War remains a major priority for the studio. 

Recently, Santa Monica Studio opened a new position at the company for a Senior Combat Designer. The position's description doesn't explicitly state which game the eventual hire will work on, but it does state that candidates need to be "fluent with the combat design choices, systems, mechanics, and enemies in God of War and God of War Ragnarok". As a result, it seems pretty clear that this job is tied to God of War and is likely associated with the next installment in the franchise. 

Given that Santa Monica Studio has always been the main developer working on the God of War property, it's not a shock whatsoever that it's now staffing up for a new title. What is a bit surprising, though, is that Santa Monica Studio is also seemingly developing a new IP at the same. Details on this new IP are quite slim at the moment, but a handful of SMS studio members have confirmed offhand in recent years that something other than God of War is in the works. 

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For the most part, many AAA studios around the globe have opted to only focus on a single game at a time. If Santa Monica Studio is indeed working on a new IP and the next God of War title at once, it would make for quite the departure given the current landscape. Whether or now we'll see anything tied to either of these projects in the months or years to come remains to be seen, but if nothing else, it's clear that one of PlayStation's biggest studios has a lot going on at the moment. 

[H/T PSLS]

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