Recent job listings indicate that Santa Monica Studio, the developer behind the famous God of War series, could be currently creating a new co-op multiplayer game. Santa Monica Studio has been at the heart of the God of War franchise ever since its inception, so this could indicate that the next game of the series would have co-op elements.
Ever since the launch of the first God of War back in 2005, the franchise is essentially synonymous with Santa Monica Studio. The developers have put out six God of War games in almost two decades, and appear to be already hiring for a God of War sequel, so it’s safe to say that the next game featuring Kratos is already in the works.
Recently, Sony started looking for a new Senior Game Designer based in Santa Monica, according to new job listings found on LinkedIn. Specifically, the position asks for someone with knowledge regarding Unreal Engine 5, and who has experience designing both local and online co-op gameplay. While Santa Monica Studio is not directly named in the job listing, Sony has already posted job ads for positions in its studios before, and it makes sense not to advertise as Santa Monica before a proper reveal that the famous studio could be working on a new co-op game.
According to the job post, the person who is hired will need to design game features, perform maintenance on existing game systems, have over ten years of experience as a game designer, and have shipped at least one AAA game while participating in a game design capacity before. This hints at a major, full-blown AAA title, not a smaller side project. However, none of this indicates whether this is a brand-new game from another franchise, the rumored sequel for Kratos and Atreus, or even a God of War prequel, as no official announcements have been made so far.
While it’s still too early to speculate on whether this could actually mean that Santa Monica Studio is planning a co-op God of War game, it’s safe to say that it’ll need to hit at least 90 or more on Metacritic to make Sony happy. Recently, a former employee from the studio revealed that all-high end productions made by studios owned by Sony need to have at least 90 on Metacritic, and studios like Santa Monica and Naughty Dog generally have this expectation in all their games.
