Santa Monica Studio

Santa Monica Studio is a developer.

Santa Monica Studio Webpage, Facebook

An American development studio operating under Sony Interactive Entertainment since its inception. As a member of PlayStation Studios, Santa Monica Studio's main focus is creating games designed for PlayStation consoles. The team gained worldwide recognition with the God of War series, which began in 2005.

History

Beginning of business

The company's history began in 1999, when Allan Becker, a longtime Sony employee, founded Santa Monica Studio. At first, the studio's headquarters were next to Naughty Dog's, but it later moved to the Penn Station building in Santa Monica for the next fifteen years.

While the team was still forming, Santa Monica Studio started work on its first game and its own graphics engine, which was meant for this and future projects. The game was a racing title called Kinetica, released in 2001 for the PS2 console. Since the team finished the game on time and within budget, Sony let them make another one.

God of War

After nearly four years of work, God of War finally launched on PlayStation 2 in 2005. The hack'n'slash about Kratos's revenge against the Greek pantheon quickly topped the charts, getting high sales and glowing reviews (94/100 on Metacritic).

Striking while the iron was hot, the team released a sequel two years later, and in 2010 the trilogy ended with God of War III on PlayStation 3. The next God of War games matched the success of the first, earning great reviews and huge sales.

In 2013, three years after God of War III, the studio launched the prequel God of War: Ascension. At this stage, there were signs that the team's work quality was dropping and energy was fading. Although Kratos' new adventure kept a high quality, it got lower reviews than the earlier games.

Santa Monica Studio began to look for a new direction. In 2014, the team moved its offices from Penn Station to The Reserve in Los Angeles. Soon after, a wave of layoffs occurred, resulting in the cancellation of an unannounced project led by Stig Asmussen, co-director of God of War III.

A fresh start for the God of War series

Players had to wait until 2018 for Santa Monica Studio's next release. God of War, released for PlayStation 4, served as both a sequel and a "soft reboot" of Kratos' story, shifting the setting from ancient Greece to the mythic realms of Scandinavia. It revitalized the franchise, earning widespread critical acclaim and major commercial success. Four years later, God of War: Ragnarok arrived - a powerful continuation that stood proudly beside its predecessor.

Meanwhile, in 2020, Australian screenwriter Alanah Pearce joined Santa Monica Studio. After four years at the studio, Pearce stepped away to prioritize flexibility and family life. As an official member of the team, Pearce consulted on three projects and contributed to the development of two others, including God of War: Ragnarok.

External Development

While the creation of video games has always been Santa Monica Studio's core activity, the team also provided active support to other developers under the External Development banner.

Serving as a business incubator, the company supported the creation and publication of titles including Twisted Metal: Black (2001), Warhawk (2007), Flower (2009), Journey (2012), Datura (2012), The Order: 1886 (2015), and Bound (2016), among others. Many talented studios seized this opportunity - among them Eat Sleep Play, Giant Sparrow, Ready at Dawn, and the Polish studio Plastic.

In 2021, Santa Monica Studio's responsibilities in this area were taken over by the British studio XDev, which subsequently expanded its operations beyond Europe.