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Santa Monica Studio is an American

video game developer A video game developer is a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large business with em ...

Sony Interactive Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (SIE) is an American video game and digital entertainment company that is a major subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Sony, Sony Group Corporation. It primarily operates the PlayStation brand of video game co ...

based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. It is best known for developing the ''

God of War A war god in mythology associated with war, combat, or bloodshed. They occur commonly in polytheism, polytheistic religions. Unlike most gods and goddesses in polytheistic religions, monotheistic deities have traditionally been portrayed in their ...

'' series. The studio was founded in 1999 by Allan Becker and was located in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

, until relocating to Playa Vista in 2014.

History

Santa Monica Studio was founded in 1999 by Allan Becker, a long-time

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

employee who wanted "to break out of the corporate Foster City group" of

Sony Computer Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (SIE) is an American video game and digital entertainment company that is a major subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Sony, Sony Group Corporation. It primarily operates the PlayStation brand of video game co ...

. The studio was established in an office next to the developer

Naughty Dog Naughty Dog, LLC (formerly JAM Software, Inc.) is an American first-party video game developer based in Santa Monica, California. Founded by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin in 1984, the studio was acquired by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2001. G ...

before moving into a brick building in the suburbs of

. The building at Penn Station would be occupied for fifteen years. For its first game, the

racing In sports, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific g ...

title '' Kinetica'', Santa Monica Studio decided to skip the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

console and built the game for the console's then-upcoming successor, the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

, instead. A

game engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games which generally includes relevant libraries and support programs such as a level editor. The "engine" terminology is akin to the term " software engine" u ...

was developed "to give the layStation 2some legs" for ''Kinetica'' and future releases. While the game was developed during the studio's

team building Team building is a collective term for various types of activities used to enhance social relations and define roles within teams, often involving collaborative tasks. It is distinct from team training, which is designed by a combination of busin ...

phase, producer Shannon Studstill focused on the game's release to prove to Sony that Santa Monica Studio was capable of delivering a product on schedule and within budget. ''Kinetica'' was released on time in 2001, with the studio staying under the allocated budget. After publication, Santa Monica Studio shifted to its next project, ''

'', while re-using the engine from ''Kinetica''. The External Development group, a department within Santa Monica Studio separate from internal development teams, acts as both a

video game publisher A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that have been developed either internally by the publisher or externally by a video game developer. They often finance the development, sometimes by paying a video game developer ...

and

business incubator A business incubator is an organization that helps startup companies and individual entrepreneurs to develop their businesses by providing a fullscale range of services, starting with management training and office space, and ending with venture ...

for

indie game An indie video game or indie game (short for independent video game) is a video game created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A ...

studios, notably Thatgamecompany and its game '' Journey.'' Other incubated teams include Broodworks, Eat Sleep Play, Fun Bits, Giant Sparrow, Incognito Entertainment,

Q-Games Q-Games, Limited is a video game developer based in Nakagyō-ku, Kyoto, Japan. It was founded by Argonaut Games alumnus Dylan Cuthbert and was closely affiliated with Nintendo and Sony Interactive Entertainment. Foundation Q-Games was founded b ...

, and

Ready at Dawn Ready At Dawn Studios LLC (RAD) was an American video game developer located in Irvine, California that was composed of former members of Naughty Dog and Blizzard Entertainment. Formed in 2003, the company was closely affiliated with Sony Compu ...

. Becker left Santa Monica Studio in 2011. By March 2012, Becker had joined Sony's

Japan Studio Japan Studio was a Japanese video game developer of Sony Interactive Entertainment based in Tokyo. It was best known for the '' Ape Escape'', '' LocoRoco'', '' Patapon'', '' Gravity Rush'', and '' Knack'' series, '' Ico'', ''Shadow of the Colos ...

, while Shannon became Santa Monica Studio's "Senior Director of Product Development". In January 2014, Santa Monica Studio announced that it would move from their Penn Station offices to The Reserve, a 20-acre facility on Jefferson Boulevard in

Playa Vista, Los Angeles Playa Vista is a list of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood in the Westside (Los Angeles County), Westside area of Los Angeles, California, United States. The area was Hughes Airport (California), the headquarters of Hughe ...

. The of office space were "four or five times the size" of their previous Santa Monica office, according to Studstill. At the time, the studio employed roughly 240 people. An undisclosed numbers of staffers were laid off in February that year due to the cancelation of a new

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

, including Stig Asmussen, who headed the canceled project. The studio relocation was completed on July 22, 2014, coupled with a new logo, dubbed SMS "Vanguard". Santa Monica Studio would also close down this group in 2016 and sold the rights to '' What Remains of Edith Finch'' and '' Wattam'' back to their developers, as well as publishing rights to

Annapurna Interactive Annapurna Games, LLC (trade name: Annapurna Interactive) is an American video game publisher and developer. The company is a division of Annapurna Pictures, and was founded in 2016, and has focused on publishing innovative and emotive indie games ...

where the group's employees had relocated. In March 2020, Studstill left Santa Monica Studio to lead a new development studio under Stadia. Subsequently, a long-time employee and previous director of product development for Santa Monica Studio, Yumi Yang, was installed as the developer's studio head.

Games developed

External Development games

References

External links

* {{Authority control, state=expanded 1999 establishments in California American companies established in 1999 Companies based in Los Angeles Companies based in Santa Monica, California First-party video game developers PlayStation Studios Technology companies based in Greater Los Angeles Video game companies based in California Video game companies established in 1999 Video game development companies