Santa Monica Studio
| File:Santa Monica Studio.svg Emblem in use since 2014 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 1999 in Santa Monica, California, US |
| Founder | Allan Becker |
| Headquarters | , US |
Key people | Yumi Yang (studio head) |
| Products | God of War series |
Number of employees | 250+[1] (2024) |
| Parent | Sony Computer Entertainment (1999–2005) PlayStation Studios (2005–present) |
| Website | sms |
Santa Monica Studio is a United States-based video game developer operating under the ownership of Sony Interactive Entertainment, headquartered in Los Angeles. The studio is best known for developing the acclaimed God of War series. Established in 1999 by Allan Becker in Santa Monica, California, the company moved its operations to Playa Vista in 2014.
History
Allan Becker, a veteran Sony employee, founded Santa Monica Studio initially located adjacent to the developer Naughty Dog. Shortly thereafter, the studio relocated to a suburban office in Santa Monica, California. Their debut title was the racing game Kinetica, created exclusively for the then-new PlayStation 2 console. This project utilized a custom-built engine optimized to fully exploit the hardware’s performance. Producer Shannon Studstill played a key role in ensuring that Kinetica was completed on schedule and within budget, releasing in 2001. The proprietary engine developed for this game was subsequently employed for their next major release, God of War.[2]
The studio's External Development division served dual functions as a publisher and incubator for independent developers including Thatgamecompany—known for Journey—as well as other studios like Broodworks, Eat Sleep Play, Fun Bits, Giant Sparrow, Incognito Entertainment, Q-Games, and Ready at Dawn.[2] Allan Becker left the company in 2011, and by the following year Shannon Studstill had advanced to Senior Director of Product Development.[2]
In January 2014, Santa Monica Studio revealed plans to move from their Penn Station location to a significantly larger 30,000 square-foot space at The Reserve in Playa Vista. This relocation expanded their workforce capacity nearly fivefold, accommodating approximately 240 employees at that time.[3] Later that year, layoffs were implemented after the cancellation of a new intellectual property project led by Stig Asmussen.[4][5] The transition was finalized on July 22, 2014, coinciding with the launch of a refreshed logo known as SMS "Vanguard".[6]
By 2016, the studio discontinued its External Development group, returning publishing rights for games such as What Remains of Edith Finch and Wattam to their original creators while transferring publishing responsibilities to Annapurna Interactive.[7]
In March 2020, Shannon Studstill departed to lead a new studio under Google Stadia. Subsequently, long-serving employee Yumi Yang was appointed as the new studio head.[8]
Games created
| Release Year | Game Title | Supported Platform(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Kinetica | PlayStation 2 |
| 2005 | God of War | PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita |
| 2007 | God of War II | |
| 2010 | God of War III | PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 |
| 2013 | God of War: Ascension | PlayStation 3 |
| 2018 | God of War | PlayStation 4, Windows |
| 2022 | God of War Ragnarök | PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows |
Externally Developed Titles
Fat Princess Adventures Fun Bits Here They Lie Tangentlemen| Release Year | Game Title | Development Studio |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Twisted Metal: Black | Incog Inc. Entertainment |
| Twisted Metal: Small Brawl | ||
| 2002 | Twisted Metal Black: Online | |
| 2003 | War of the Monsters | |
| Downhill Domination | ||
| 2005 | The Con | Think & Feel |
| Twisted Metal: Head-On | Incognito Entertainment | |
| Neopets: The Darkest Faerie | Idol Minds | |
| 2006 | Blast Factor | Bluepoint Games |
| 2007 | Flow | Thatgamecompany |
| Calling All Cars! | Incognito Entertainment | |
| Warhawk | ||
| PixelJunk Racers | Q-Games | |
| Everyday Shooter | Queasy Games | |
| 2008 | PixelJunk Monsters | Q-Games |
| Twisted Metal Head-On: Extra Twisted Edition | Eat Sleep Play | |
| God of War: Chains of Olympus | Ready at Dawn | |
| PixelJunk Monsters Encore | Q-Games | |
| PixelJunk Eden | ||
| Linger in Shadows | Plastic | |
| 2009 | Flower | Thatgamecompany |
| PixelJunk Eden Encore | Q-Games | |
| 2009 |
Fat Princess |
Titan Studios |
| 2009 |
PixelJunk Shooter |
Q-Games |
| 2009 |
God of War Collection |
Bluepoint Games |
| 2010 |
Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake |
Super Villain Studios |
| 2010 |
PixelJunk Racers 2nd Lap |
Q-Games |
| 2010 |
God of War: Ghost of Sparta |
Ready at Dawn |
| 2011 |
PixelJunk Shooter 2 |
Q-Games |
|
PixelJunk SideScroller |
Q-Games | |
|
God of War: Origins Collection |
Ready at Dawn | |
|
Carnival Island |
Magic Pixel Games | |
| 2012 |
Twisted Metal (2012 video game) |
Eat Sleep Play |
|
Escape Plan (video game) |
Fun Bits | |
|
Journey (2012 video game) |
Thatgamecompany | |
|
Starhawk (2012 video game) |
LightBox Interactive | |
|
Datura (video game) |
Plastic | |
|
PixelJunk 4am |
Q-Games | |
|
Sorcery (video game) |
The Workshop | |
|
Sound Shapes |
Queasy Games | |
|
The Unfinished Swan |
Giant Sparrow' | |
|
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale' |
SuperBot Entertainment' | |
| 2014 |
Hohokum' |
Honeyslug' |
| 2015 |
Fat Princess: Piece of Cake' |
One Loop Games' |
|
God of War III Remastered' |
Wholesale Algorithms' | |
|
The Order: 1886' |
Ready at Dawn' | |
|
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture' |
The Chinese Room' | |
| 2016
Bound (video game) Plastic |
External links
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- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Cite error: Invalid
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- ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- Pages with broken file links
- 1999 establishments in California
- American companies founded in 1999
- Businesses located in Los Angeles
- Enterprises based in Santa Monica, California
- First-party video game creators
- PlayStation Studios
- Video game firms situated in Greater Los Angeles
- Video game firms founded in 1999
- Video game development firms
- American companies established in 1999
- Pages with reference errors
- Pages with script errors