Or they would be, if these companies didn't exist; Ninja Theory, Mercury Steam, Visceral Games, Team Ninja, whoever in Capcom developed DMC4, and Platinum Games.

They're decent at it.  They're good in making pretty graphics though, I'll give them that.  The most overrated development studio at Sony, in my opinion.

I think some people are reading too hard into some of the things he said. Saying "something that feels familiar" is not an indication that he's even talking about his previous work with SMS. It's just as likely, perhaps even more so, that he is simply talking about doing something that people have seen before in other games but expanded with his own ideas. I sincerely doubt he left Sony for years and gained all sorts of industry and personal experience just to come back and make yet another God of War game. He sounds like he has greater ambitions than simply continuing an aging franchise. You don't aim to put together some badass crew from scratch if you're simply looking to make a sequel for a game that doesn't need it right now. As others have pointed out already, the open world game that may have sci-fi shooter elements in it is not Barlog's project. That is Asmussen's project that I heard a small team was working on for 3 years while the main SMS team did Ascension. After that game was done, the bulk of the Ascension team moved to Asmussen's project. I can't confirm that's how it worked out but that's just what I heard awhile back. We should be hearing something about that game by next convention season at the latest though some think we may get a teaser for it at the VGA show.

i really doubt Asmussen's project has been worked on by a small team for about 3 years now (up until GoW:A released). if a game is in its 3rd year into development it would be by a small team for all that time. and i doubt sony would have teased it at gamescom along with ND and media molecules games which we know have been in development for 2 (nd) and 2 and half years (MD) for now. it would make no sense to wait 3 years for the main staff to finish a game instead of hiring new people while they wait for that game (GoW:a) to be finished. also i remember readings (leaks) that the main team is infact working on stigs game and that the GoW:A team is the new team.

on another note its pretty obvious that cory barlogs new game is another one from Stig Asmussen's project. why would cory make an "oceans 11" kind of team for a game that is 3+ years into development? he is making a new team for a new game, and personally i cant wait to hear more about it. 

and i agree with you about what you said about Cory's game being a new GoW. it doesnt make sense. and we know stigs new game isnt a GoW either. so i cant wait

Except for all of those studios you listed, either none of them have produced a hack n' slash game of the same quality as the first three God of War games or they did at one point but have yet to repeat that success. I really have to disagree with Santa Monica being just 'decent' at it. Going by metacritic scores, sales, and how many people speak highly of God of War... if Santa Monica is only decent at it then no great hack n' slash game has ever existed and most not made by them were utter garbage.

We don't know exactly how Santa Monica handles their projects and staffing. Considering that this is already new territory for Santa Monica in having multiple projects going at once, would it really be that hard to believe that Sony wanted Santa Monica to make another God of War game but greenlit Asmussen on his PS4 project and he was given a small team to start? Afterall, what was Asmussen doing since he wasn't working on Ascension? If you insist that Asmussen had his own decent sized team going while Ascension was being developed by another team and Barlog only recently came back and is claiming he's building his new team... does that mean Santa Monica has three teams? What was the bulk of the Ascension team doing before Barlog came back because from what I can tell that was a gap of about 3 or 4 months. Also, isn't only having a small team working on a game and waiting until more people are freed up to tackle it the exact thing that we heard Japan Studio was doing about The Last Guardian? Even a small team can make a lot of progress in 3 years and we have no idea when Asmussen's game will grace the PS4. It certainly wouldn't be the first time a game that is still years away has been teased. Especially when it's just casually mentioned as "a game" without giving a name or teaser video.

I'm not saying you're wrong at all. I'm just wondering what you think based on that. Is Santa Monica gearing up for two teams or three teams? If Asmussen had his own basically full team going then that means Santa Monica already had two teams and we didn't even realize it until recently. Then what is Barlog doing? What he said doesn't make it sound like he's taking the current staff. It sounds like he plans on making a whole new team. If he is infact taking the bulk of the Ascension team then what were those guys doing before he came back? So many questions. Poptarts.

To be honest. I understand what your saying, but comparing something like DmC or DMC4 to God of War is an unfair comparasion.

They are both melee based action games, but they feel completely different to play. God of War is a unique product in its own way. I think they are the best at what they do, but obviously in other ways the action games you mentioned at better at certain things.

In view however Stigg (GOW3 director) did overrate himself when he said he considered his team the best in the buisness at what they do.

Please don't be always online...

You mean... Something like Stargate?

I wouldn't mind a little Stargate influence .

So two different games now ? That's weird because they have some common things.

They are without question the best at it, the series lauched late into the PS2's cycle with little/no advertisement and no bundling and built a name for itself based on it's genre defiing quality alone,  it made itself into the huge franchse it is today and none of the studios you listed above achieved that.

Hell God of War III alone sold over 6 million units, more than all the DMC + Ninja Gaiden games combined on PS3 + 360 this generation, why would it be so huge if it were just 'decent'. They are the best development studio at Sony and do so much more than just God of War, not that you'd know, your opinon of yourself is the only thing that's overrated.

And just decent?

The critics...

and 4.65 MILLION fans...

DISAGREE.

Why don't you just vanish, nobody cares for your trolling attempts opinion, you have an obvious vendetta against SSM/God of War as you always spew negativity whenever they're the topic of discussion as if it's their series' fault that Devil May Cry, Bayonetta & Ninja Gaiden all are dead franchises and Heavenly Sword & Dante's Inferno will never get sequels.

If you dislike the developers/series so much just keep it to yourself, you're just part of an insignificant minorty so why bother? Such a vehemently bitter, unlikeable person.

User was warned for this post - Kantor