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?

http://playstationlifestyle.net/2012/04/19/game-director-stig-asmussen-doing-cool-stuff-at-sony-santa-monica-not-god-of-war-ascension/

-------------------------------------------

Theres nothing concrete, I know, BUT.. What do you think hes working on ? - Along with (perhaps) half of santa monica.

I'm hoping, though very unlikely, for a Heavenly Sword 2.

Is that one guy's last name really Balrog? I thought it was Barlog, because i also thought it couldn't possibly, actually be Balrog...

What about that rumoured RPG game SSM was developing. Anyways I think heavenly sword would be better of as a psvita game.

It's Barlog.  But Balrog is a common "typo" for his name.

God Of War shifts directors with every sequel, its a pretty cool move to keep the franchise fresh, though most of the time, the director gets too afraid to change so that they won't piss off the fans, every director has their own take on the franchise, in my opinion this guy had the best direction of them, though he kinda killed the series for the other directors (a dick move xD), the second best has to be Ghost Of Sparta director they added lots of storyline into the games.

How come ? :P I think it was one of the games that used the sixaxis in a way that was awesome.
The psp does have sixaxis, but, I think would be pretty confusing to use in a way that heavenly sword used it considering you have to look at the screen on the device you're shaking.

Every game has had a different director, and it's worked for the series so far.

Though I did prefer Barlog's ending to Asmussen's ending. In Barlog's ending to the series, Kratos becomes the Grim Reaper.

i really didn't like Asmussen's ending, to GOW3. it was drab and boring, but the game its self was awesome.

GOW4, or whatever, as long as it's a AAA game that doesn't disapoint, i'm all in.

Looking at the sales of current hack/slash games, It would sale better on the vita, plus the vita needs more games.

Still :P I really enjoyed the gameplay, but then again, with sixaxis going to way of the dinosaur, it's unlikely it'd return as a feature in the sequel. Well, even the possibility of a sequel is a remote chance :P but one can hope.