Santa Monica Studio's New IP Allegedly Under Development

Sony confirmed a slew of delayed or canceled unannounced live-service titles, one of which was revealed to be Bluepoint Games' God of War spinoff. After lending a hand to Santa Monica Studios on God of War: Ragnarok, the Austin-based firm began working on this live-service project. When Sony shifted their focus to developing single-player games for PlayStation, the news of Sony Santa Monica, the studio behind God of War, developing an original IP after more than 20 years of hiatus came to view.

Though they did lend a hand with other projects, Sony Santa Monica has focused entirely on the God of War series since its 2005 debut, with the exception of the PS2 racing Kinetica, which was released in 2001. Therefore, the idea of a whole new franchise from a studio that developed the God of War series is thrilling. Despite last week's rumor of an Egyptian-themed God of War game, the new IP seems like it's unrelated to the God of War series.

Even though it was reported that Santa Monica was working on a God of War sequel, recently, a 4chan post appeared that was later reshared on Reddit, revealing what is reportedly Sony Santa Monica's new IP. The post shared some rumored concept art and details that were reportedly theorized from several posts from Cory Barlog. We know that Barlog left God of War in 2019 to focus on a new IP, which he has been working on at the studio for years.

According to the leaks, Deborah Wilson, who played Grýla, the giant in God of War Ragnarök, is also part of this new IP since the new supposed concept art pieces also feature Deborah Wilson as a character in this new game. The next game's setting has been suggested for years on Cory's Twitter account, leading us to believe that it takes place in a sci-fi setting.

So, Santa Monica's new IP will feature a white female protagonist in a sci-fi fantasy setting in the future when humanity has been reduced to the medieval era. The story revolves around the final scientific artifact from humanity's golden era, a technology comparable to a nuclear reactor that allows humans to manipulate magic. A dark society of wizards will threaten the world by attempting to conjure a space monster.

Deborah Wilson is an essential NPC who assists the protagonist with her objective; therefore, this seems similar to Horizon Zero Dawn. Horizon's theme is essentially about the fall of man, and in this new age, they use ancient technology. In Horizon, we have seen language so advanced that it appears to be magic and devices so advanced that it seems you're controlling magic while fighting off robots.

This leak doesn't seem to include anything unusual, captivating, or noteworthy. As far as game settings go, this is about as ordinary as it gets. A game set in the Middle Ages, where the only reliable source of power is a relic from long ago, and a group of wizards practice what they call "old science" in a shadowy order, doesn't really sound that intriguing. Even though it's too early to make any such remark, after all, it's a Sony Santa Monica game. So, we do have high hopes for them in terms of execution and overall performance of the game. 

At this point, we would expect Sony Santa Monica's next game to be revealed fairly soon. We don't know what Cory has been working on for the past five or six years. If we get this revealed at the next State of Play, which is expected to take place this month. We got the Ghost of Yōtei disclosed during the last PlayStation State of Play in 2024, so what's it's highly likely that Sony will reveal Santa Monica's new IP in the February 2025 State of Play. We're not sure if Sony will ever do another PlayStation Showcase because they're already presenting their big studio titles at the State of Play. This is an intriguing concept at this point. For the time being, it is only a rumor, but we expect to hear more from Sony Santa Monica soon.