PlayStation's God of War Studio is Working on Multiple Projects - News

by William D'Angelo , posted on 16 November 2022 / 3,206 Views

Sony Santa Monica's studio creative director Cory Barlog in an interview with the Los Angeles Times revealed that despite just releasing God of War: Ragnarök the studio is "spread out on a lot of different things." He didn't provide any details on what they are working on.

It should be noted the studio has provided support on indie games from other developers, including Journey, Starhawk, Twisted Metal, The Order: 1886, and more.

God of War: Ragnarök director Eric Williams added that he would be happy to work on the franchise for the rest of his life.

"I remember talking to someone from another game company, where they were trying to get me to leave," he said. "They said, 'Do you just want to be known as the God of War guy for the rest of your life?' That was your big pitch to dissuade me? Because yes, I kind of do."

God of War: Ragnarök had the second biggest launch of 2022 at retail in the UK, only behind FIFA 23. This means the PlayStation exclusive had a bigger launch than Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Elden Ring, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II.

God of War: Ragnarök is available for the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4.

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

13 Comments

2zosteven (on 16 November 2022)

GOW is an incredible franchise, lets give it a break and see what else they can do here

CosmicSex (on 16 November 2022)

This makes a lot of since we found out the the studio had expanded to 400+. Plus I think it was known that Cory had stepped down to work on another project. We should expect to see their new project by 2024.

Hiku CosmicSex (on 16 November 2022)

They have a tradition at Santa Monica to rotate directors for every new God of War to get a fresh take on it each time, so it's not really that he stepped down as much as continuing the tradition.

pitzy272 Hiku (on 16 November 2022)

You’re right about their tradition/pattern for GoW, but I’m pretty certain Cory stepped away from GoW primarily by choice. He was in a video interview, I think with SkillUp, immediately after the release of GoW 2018. At one point he stated he was hoping Sony would allow him to make his “dream game” for his next project. It became pretty clear when he was confirmed to not be the director for GoWR that Sony granted his request.

Hiku pitzy272 (on 16 November 2022)

Perhaps they gave him time to work on another project, but he still worked on Ragnarok as a producer.

pitzy272 Hiku (on 17 November 2022)

Wait, I thought he was the creative director. When the credits were going at the beginning of the game, I was shocked to see his name in such a major role.

I’m wondering if he got that title partially bc he wrote a ton of stuff for GoW 2018 that he ultimately decided to save for GoWR. He made it sound like it amounted to a pretty substantial amount of material and ideas.

Edit: I just tried to look it up and saw he was listed as producer. It seems his title at SSM is “studio creative director.” That must’ve been what threw me. My bad.

Hiku pitzy272 (on 17 November 2022)

I didn't see the credits yet (unless you mean the opening credits), but I was just going by what he is listed as on Ragnarok's Wiki page.
It's possible he occupied several roles during development of the game. But producer is probably the primary one.

the-pi-guy Hiku (on 18 November 2022)

After God of War Ragnarok was announced, Sony had an interview with Cory Barlog and Eric Williams where Cory said that he was working on his own project.
Which was rather strange in a lot of ways. It was in the post show for the 2021 PlayStation Showcase, so it was a rather public announcement for something that is presumably years away.