Industry Video game industry Website Official website | Number of employees ~220+ Parent organization SIE Worldwide Studios | |
Type Subsidiary of Sony Interactive Entertainment Key people Shannon Studstill (head of studio) Products Kinetica
God of War series Founder Sony Interactive Entertainment Headquarters Santa Monica, California, United States Founded 1999, Santa Monica, California, United States Video games God of War, God of War III, God of War: Ascension, God of War II, God of War: Ghost of Sparta Profiles | ||
Santa Monica Studio, LLC is an American video game developer and part of SIE Worldwide Studios, which is owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It is based in Los Angeles, California and was established in 1999.
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History
They developed the Kinetica game engine that was first used in Kinetica and later in God of War and God of War II.
They also have an external development branch that funds and provides support for a wide variety of games. External development also runs an incubation program which has funded and housed independent developers, including Thatgamecompany and Giant Sparrow.
On January 29, 2014, it was reported that the company is moving from Santa Monica to Playa Vista, Los Angeles. Their new facility occupies a 20-acre site and allows the studio to house two independent studios as well as having an "improved sound bay and a motion capture studio".
On February 25, 2014, the studio was hit by layoffs due to cancellation of a new IP.
Kinetica game engine
Kinetica is a video game engine developed by SCE Santa Monica Studio, designed for PlayStation 2 titles. This engine was named after Kinetica, the first game released using this engine.