Two days ago the unfortunate news of yet another studio closure hit the game industry. Sony Santa Monica Studios, the PlayStation first party development team behind the God of War series were said to have faced numerous layoffs as a result of “resource re-alignment” by Sony. The studio was founded in 1999 and had over 200 employees as of last month. Some reports suggest that up to 50 people were let go from the studio. This news comes to us despite the studios recent move to a larger office and planned expansion of their staff numbers.
Sony's official response to the closure was as follows:
SCEA can confirm that we have completed a reduction in workforce at Santa Monica Studio. This is a result of a cycle of resource re-alignment against priority growth areas within SCE WWS. We do not take these decisions lightly. However, sometimes it is necessary to make changes to better serve the future projects of the studio. We have offered outplacement services and severance packages to ease transition for those impacted.
According to Jonathan Hawkins, former lead level-designer at Sony Santa Monica Studios, the layoffs not only reduced staff numbers but also had an effect on the studio's unannounced new IP by God of War 3 director Stig Asmussen. Hawkins tweeted that the canceled game had been in development since God of War 3.
According to an interview last summer with Polygon, "Battlestar Galactica" writer Michael Angeli was working with the Santa Monica studio on a new IP, presumably sci-fi based.
Studio closures are always very saddening to hear. People lose their jobs and passionate projects are shot down to never see the light of day again. Here's hoping everyone laid off finds new work soon. Sony has yet to confirm the details of the cancelled game.
