About Sony Santa Monica’s New Canceled IP…

Known for developing the God of War series, Sony Santa Monica has been a major force in video gaming since it was founded in 1999.  Recently, it was revealed via insider sources that their upcoming fancy new Sci-fi IP had been cancelled due to a workforce reduction measure.  It just goes to show you – even major industry players can quickly find a promising project canned if there are mitigating issues to deal with.

Well-known Level Designer, Jonathan Hawkins (of God of War fame) has apparently been let go as a result of the surrounding events, and you can catch up with his updates via is Twitter page.  Perhaps most surprisingly though, is the notion that this cancelled IP was actually Stig Asmussen’s project, who was a major force behind the God of War franchise, culminating in his becoming director for GoW III, of course.

As far as the game itself is concerned, it has been rumored that Battlestar Galactica‘s writer Michael Angeli was on board for development and that everything had been going great up until recently.  Despite all the hullabaloo and interest in the story however, representatives for Sony Santa Monica have yet to comment or offer up any specifics regarding the cancellation or the elimination of staff.  In other words, we can only speculate at this point.  Perhaps someone was making highly controversial and/or politically-charged commentary with this IP and that’s why it was scrapped?  On the other hand, there are secondary reports coming in which suggest that the dev team were actually behind schedule or that there had been significant setbacks which led to the studio’s decision to pull the plug.

Arguably, the most distressing part of this whole torrid affair is the notion that the IP in question was not only to be unveiled at the upcoming E3 event, but also that it was in and of itself supposed to be outstanding.  All in all it’s a very bittersweet turn of events and surely a major let-down for all those involved who were probably expecting to bring another major IP to market and on the PS4 no less.  Oh well, you know what they say – the show must go on!