Now that development for (sexist?) God of War: Ascension has been completed and the game is going on sale next week, just what Sony Santa Monica will be doing next is a question many people, myself included, want answered. Are they going to create something on PlayStation 4? Is it going to be another God of War game? Will they start a new franchise?
To get an answer, CVG caught up with Jason McDonald, Lead Combat Designer, and Mark Simon, Lead Game Designer, on God of War: Ascension, specifically asking them what Sony Santa Monica is working on next:
We actually don’t know what we’re going to be doing after Ascension.
While that answer is more than a little anticlimactic, we did find out last year that Sony Santa Monica was working on an unannounced new IP that may feature vehicular combat, and could be something that is headed up by God of War 3 director, Stig Asmussen. It’s entirely possible that the team working on that new IP is separate from the God of War devs though, so the Kratos side of SSM truly may not know what project is coming next.
Until they start work on a new game, God of War: Ascension will be getting a lot of post launch attention, something that Mark says includes “DLC and supporting multiplayer.” We do know that some of the DLC is going to include free multiplayer maps, but if the whole team is still working on the game, maybe we’ll see some single player content?
As for the character of Kratos, who will be starring in his sixth PlayStation game on Tuesday, Jason and Mark were asked if they thought they could take him any further:
Mark: I think there’s still life in Kratos. He’s a fun character to design games around and I love playing him.
Jason: Yeah, I think the fantasy of Kratos is always compelling. There are not many characters that are like him.
Finally, the guys were asked what they thought of the PlayStation 4 when it was first unveiled:
Jason: Well, the first thing that hit me was just the power of it. It’s been a long time since the last generation started so it feels like a significant boost. It means that certain scenarios and ideas that we shied away from in the past, because they were too technically demanding, can be re-examined.
Mark: The thing is, when you look at the specs, there’s no way you can say ‘oh there is clearly this thing missing’. As if any games studio in the world would be saying ‘oh no, eight gigabytes of GDDR5 memory is not enough’. I mean, holy shit, how are going to use all of that?
What would you like to see Sony Santa Monica work on next? Let us know in the comments below.
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