Game Director Stig Asmussen “Doing Cool Stuff” at Sony Santa Monica, Not God Of War: Ascension

Sony Santa Monica may be hard at work on a new God of War game, but with another director at the helm, what does that mean for GOWIII head Stig Asmussen?

After being questioned about the rate at which the GOW franchise seems to burn through directors (Jaffe, Balrog, Asmussen, Papy), David Jaffe said:

Pretty well documented in game press why Cory and I left. Stig is still at SSM tho doing cool stuff.

Of course, Asmussen could be working on one of the main collaboration projects at SSM, where they help out other studios like thatgamecompany, Team Ico or Lightbox Interactive, but that seems unlikely for such a high-profile developer. Additionally, Asmussen’s LinkedIn says that he is a “game director”.

So that begs the question, what is he doing? Could Sony Santa Monica be doing what Naughty Dog are doing and splitting up to work on two high profile games at the same time? A recent hiring spree would suggest so, with Director of Product Development at Santa Monica, John Hight saying last year that the studio was planning to double in size:

During this particular part of our growth, which we’re right now at about 105 full time, we’re gonna go to about 200 people which is still huge. I mean God of War II had about 60 people so we grew quite a bit during God of War III.

Considering Ascension is a PS3 game, it’s unlikely that the development team needs to be doubled (the engine will likely be the same or just updated, not built from scratch), so that does mean that a large development team might be working on something else, with Stig Asmussen at the lead.

It’s important to note that this all rumors and speculation, and nothing is confirmed, but if true, what would you like the other team to be developing? God of War Vita, God of War PS4, or something new?

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