Sony Santa Monica Studio, the studio behind God of War is reportedly working on a new title—which could be the next installment in the God of War franchise. Earlier in the week, Santa Monica posted a new job listing for a Combat Designer.
“Santa Monica Studio is seeking a Combat Designer for the development of a new unannounced title,” read the job posting. “In this role, you will assist, collaborate with, and take direction from Lead Combat Designers and Directors as needed on character and boss designs from concept to implementation completion.”
Although it was said at the beginning that the position was for an unannounced title, one of the job requirements hinted that the title in development is related to the God of War franchise. In addition to having “basic knowledge of vector math, scripting languages, and code (e.g., XML, C++, Lua),” the candidate must be familiar with the last two God of War games.
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“Must have knowledge of God of War (2018) and God of War Ragnarök (2022) and be able to speak in depth about the combat systems, mechanics, and enemies,” read the last job requirement.
If you fancy this position, consider sending in your resume—regardless of your race, color, ethnicity, and so on—because Sony considers itself an Equal Opportunity Employer. The estimated base pay for the role is $83,400—$125,200.
Is Santa Monica ready to stick to the God of War franchise?
Unlike other popular studios that create different titles, it is hard to separate the image of Santa Monica from God of War. Surprisingly, it was not the first game the studio made. Kinetica (where twelve racers compete against each other in Kinetic Suits), which was released in 2001, was the first game made by Santa Monica.
It was followed by God of War in 2005 and the studio has stuck with the franchise ever since. Make no mistake, Santa Monica has had a litany of external developments over the years including Twisted Metal, Hohokum, and others. The full list is available here.
Since Ragnarök shipped last year, Santa Monica is yet to announce its next project. However, in November last year, Cory Barlog, the creative director of Ragnarök mentioned that the studio was “spread out on a lot of different things”.
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The comment meant that Santa Monica may consider birthing other titles. However, that contradicted the opinion of the game director, Eric Williams, who said Sony Santa Monica won’t mind being known as God of War studio. It is not surprising because it is Sony’s most profitable game brand.
Since 2005 to date, Santa Monica has been making only God of War in-house—and it is hard to imagine they will stop considering the success of the franchise. As of June 2023, available data shows that the God of War franchise has sold over 65 million copies worldwide. God of War (2018) holds the record as the best-selling God of War game with over 19.5 million copies sold.
Chances are slim but it can still be a different game
Since Ragnarök wrapped up the Norse saga, it is hard to imagine a new title headed by Kratos spinning out of the franchise. Nevertheless, there is still a huge story in front of Atreus, but will players react positively if the protagonist of God of War is Atreus or another character?
Also, one of the requirements of the job posting said the candidate, “Must have knowledge of competitive products and various gameplay genres”. This could mean that the studio wants to try its hand at a new title that will play like God of War and need someone with knowledge of the market competition to help them get there.
Another way to interpret that statement is that Santa Monica is planning to make a multiplayer game which happens to be the most competitive game product at the moment. Until the title of whatever game they are working on is announced, gamers can only imagine.
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