Santa Monica Studio

Santa Monica Studio is the Sony Interactive Entertainment studio in California that makes God of War. Founded in 1999, it made every main God of War game from 2005 to Ragnarok and is now finishing God of War Laufey for PS5, due May 20, 2027.

Santa Monica Studio makes God of War. It is a first-party PlayStation studio, owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment, that says it was "Established in 1999" and became known for action games through the 2005 God of War and its sequels. Every main game in the series came from it, from God of War (2005) to God of War Ragnarok, and its next one is God of War Laufey, the first main game led by Faye (Laufey) instead of Kratos, which the studio delayed on Nov 4, 2026 to May 20, 2027 on PlayStation 5.

Quick facts

Owner	Sony Interactive Entertainment (PlayStation)
Founded	1999, by Allan Becker
Home	Santa Monica, California; in The Reserve since Jul 2014
Size	"Over 250" developers, as of Nov 4, 2026
Studio head	Yumi Yang, named in Mar 2020 (the latest change found as of Nov 4, 2026)
Head of Creative	Cory Barlog
First game	Kinetica (2001, PS2)
Best known for	God of War, since Mar 22, 2005
Next game	God of War Laufey, PS5, May 20, 2027 (date announced, hour not)

Sources: Santa Monica Studio: Who We Are; IGN, Mar 21, 2012; PlayStation Blog, Jul 22, 2014; GamesIndustry.biz, Mar 4, 2020; Game Informer, Jun 16, 2026; Game Informer, Nov 4, 2026.

Who makes God of War?

Santa Monica Studio develops it and Sony Interactive Entertainment publishes it. The studio wrote, designed and built the main games itself; a few side games were made by partner teams it worked with:

Game	Year	Made by
God of War (2005)	2005	Santa Monica Studio, directed by David Jaffe
God of War II	2007	Santa Monica Studio, directed by Cory Barlog
God of War: Betrayal	2007	Sony Online Entertainment and Javaground (phones)
Chains of Olympus	2008	Ready at Dawn (PSP)
God of War III	2010	Santa Monica Studio, directed by Stig Asmussen
Ghost of Sparta	2010	Ready at Dawn (PSP), directed by Dana Jan
God of War: Ascension	2013	Santa Monica Studio, directed by Todd Papy
God of War (2018)	2018	Santa Monica Studio, directed by Cory Barlog
God of War Ragnarok	2022	Santa Monica Studio, directed by Eric Williams
Valhalla	2023	Santa Monica Studio; Bruno Velazquez co-directed
God of War Sons of Sparta	2026	Mega Cat Studios, with Santa Monica Studio's writers
God of War Laufey	2027	Santa Monica Studio, directed by Ariel Lawrence

Sources: PlayStation Blog (Cory Barlog), Mar 20, 2015; IGN, Jun 27, 2007; Metacritic: Chains of Olympus; PlayStation Blog (Dana Jan), Sep 7, 2011; PlayStation Blog (Todd Papy), Apr 19, 2012; The Hollywood Reporter, Sep 29, 2017; GameSpot, Nov 21, 2022; Santa Monica Studio, Mar 22, 2024; PlayStation Blog, Feb 12, 2026; PlayStation Blog, Jun 2, 2026.

The order the stories happen in is different from this list; see God of War Games in Order.

History

Allan Becker, a Sony veteran IGN calls a "PlayStation evangelist", founded the studio in 1999 to break out of the corporate Foster City group. Its first game was the PS2 racer Kinetica (2001), whose engine later ran God of War; Shannon Studstill produced it and calls herself one of the founders. Lead programmer Tim Moss later said Kinetica had good tech and that the studio's mantra was "fun games that sell."

God of War began in 2002 under the working name Dark Odyssey, with David Jaffe directing a team of about 45 people. Studstill recalled asking Sony's Shuhei Yoshida for more money in spring 2004 and hearing that her career was on the line. The game came out on Mar 22, 2005, and by May 30, 2012 the series had sold 21,650,595 units worldwide, as Sony counted shipments. The full story of the first game is on David Jaffe and God of War (2005).

Beside its own games, the studio worked as a publisher and incubator for outside teams: it lists flOw, Flower, Journey, The Order: 1886, Warhawk, Fat Princess and the PixelJunk series among the games it published with partners.

0:24 In Jul 2014 it unveiled a new logo and left its home of 15 years at Penn Station for a building called The Reserve. Cory Barlog, back at the studio since 2013, then led the reboot that moved Kratos to Norse myth: God of War (2018), which won Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2018 and sold over 23 million units by Sony's fiscal Q2 2022 report. Eric Williams, combat lead on the 2005 game, directed God of War Ragnarok, which had sold more than 15 million units on PS4 and PS5 by Nov 19, 2023. Every sales figure is on God of War Sales and every prize on God of War Awards.

Leaders

Studstill was head of Santa Monica Studio by Mar 2015 and left to lead a Google Stadia studio. Yumi Yang, at PlayStation for 19 years and most recently the studio's director of product development, replaced her in Mar 2020; Sony credited her oversight of the 2018 game. Cory Barlog is the studio's Head of Creative. No later change of studio head was found as of Nov 4, 2026.

How the studio makes its games

Bruno Velazquez said at Turin's View Conference in Oct 2026 that the studio used virtual-camera technology from Avatar to shoot the two Norse games as one unbroken take, and that it runs scheduled playtests with facial recordings, eye tracking and surveys on story and difficulty. The studio says it is home to over 250 developers.

The 2026 slate

Three God of War projects were public as of Nov 4, 2026:

God of War Sons of Sparta, a 2D pixel-art prequel about young Kratos and his brother Deimos, came out on PS5 on Feb 12, 2026. Mega Cat Studios developed it, with Santa Monica Studio's writing team on the story.
The God of War Trilogy Remake was announced the same day: the original trilogy is being remade, "still very early in development", with no developer, platform or date named.
God of War Laufey, revealed at State of Play on Jun 2, 2026, directed by Ariel Lawrence, scored by Bear McCreary, and now due May 20, 2027. The studio gave the finishing touches as the reason for the delay; the details are on Laufey Release Date.

1:29 At San Diego Comic-Con on Jul 24, 2026, Barlog said a Kratos-led game will directly follow the events of Laufey; see Next God of War After Laufey. In the clip, IGN's Jul 25, 2026 recap from Comic-Con, the hosts report the announcement.

One labeled report: GameSpot wrote in Mar 2026, citing earlier reporting, that a God of War live-service game was in development at Bluepoint before it was canceled and Bluepoint closed. Sony has not described that project.

Frequently asked questions

Who makes God of War? Santa Monica Studio, a PlayStation studio in Santa Monica, California, develops the God of War games, and Sony Interactive Entertainment publishes them. Its next game is God of War Laufey, due May 20, 2027 on PS5.

Is Santa Monica Studio owned by Sony? Yes. Santa Monica Studio is part of Sony Interactive Entertainment, the PlayStation company, and has been since it was founded in 1999; its first game was Kinetica (2001), and God of War followed in 2005.

Who is the head of Santa Monica Studio? Yumi Yang has led the God of War studio since Mar 2020, after Shannon Studstill. Cory Barlog is its Head of Creative, and Ariel Lawrence directs God of War Laufey.

Did Santa Monica Studio make every God of War game? It made every main God of War game. Ready at Dawn made the two PSP games, Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta, Javaground and Sony Online Entertainment made the phone game Betrayal, and Mega Cat Studios made Sons of Sparta with the studio's writers.

What is Santa Monica Studio working on now? God of War Laufey, delayed on Nov 4, 2026 to May 20, 2027, and the God of War Trilogy Remake, announced on Feb 12, 2026 with no date.

How many people work at Santa Monica Studio? The God of War studio says it is home to over 250 developers, as of Nov 4, 2026.