SIE Santa Monica Studio

Short description: American video game developer

SIE Santa Monica Studio

Type| Subsidiary
Industry| Video games
Founded| September 12, 1999; 26 years ago (1999-09-12) in Santa Monica, California[1]
Headquarters|

Los Angeles, California

United States

Key people

| Yumi Yang (head of studio)
Products| God of War series

Number of employees

| 200+ (2018)[2]
Parent| Sony Interactive Entertainment
Website| Official website

SIE Santa Monica Studio is an American first-party video game developer, part of SIE Worldwide Studios developers group, and owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment, known for developing the acclaimed God of War series. It is based in Los Angeles, California and was established in 1999.

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Games developed
* 3 References
* 4 External links
* 5 History
* 6 Studios
* 6.1 Former
* 7 Other divisions
* 7.1 ICE Team
* 7.2 XDev
* 8 References
* 9 External links

## History

Established in 1999, Santa Monica Studio became first known in 2005 with the success of God of War. Santa Monica Studio later turned into a pioneer in innovation and mentoring new voices in gaming. Based on a model established with video game studio Thatgamecompany, Santa Monica Studio has since acted as an incubator for studios as Giant Sparrow and SuperBot Entertainment.[3]

On January 29, 2014, it was reported that the company was moving from Santa Monica to Playa Vista, Los Angeles .[4] Their new facility occupied a 20-acre site and allowed the studio to house two independent studios, as well as having an "improved sound bay and a motion capture studio".[5]

On February 25, 2014, the studio was hit by layoffs due to the cancellation of a new intellectual property.[6][7]

## Games developed

Game title  | U.S. release date  | Platform  | Ref

|
|
|

Kinetica | October 14, 2001 | PlayStation 2, PlayStation 4 | [8]
God of War | March 22, 2005 | PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita | [9]
God of War II | March 13, 2007 | PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita | [10]
God of War III | March 16, 2010 | PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 | [11]
God of War | March 12, 2013 | PlayStation 3 | [12]
God of War | April 20, 2018 | PlayStation 4 | [13]

## References

1. ↑ @SonySantaMonica (September 12, 2019). "20 years. It’s been an incredible journey creating games from our internal team to external partners. What are your favorites?". https://twitter.com/SonySantaMonica/status/1172292062500114432.
2. ↑ "SANTA MONICA STUDIO". Archived from the original on June 7, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190607161822/https://sms.playstation.com/studio/. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
3. ↑ "thatgamecompany". http://getinmedia.com/employers/thatgamecompany.
4. ↑ Purchese, Robert (January 29, 2014). "A Peek At Our New Studio, expanding". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. http://sms.playstation.com/news/time-to-move/. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
5. ↑ "Sony Santa Monica not involved with The Last Guardian". http://www.computerandvideogames.com/472065/sony-santa-monica-unveils-new-logo-following-relocation/.
6. ↑ Moriarty, Colin (February 25, 2014). "Layoffs Hit God of War Studio Sony Santa Monica". IGN. Imagine Games Network. http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/02/25/layoffs-hit-god-of-war-studio-sony-santa-monica. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
7. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (February 27, 2014). "God of War developer Sony Santa Monica suffers layoffs". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-02-26-god-of-war-developer-sony-santa-monica-suffers-layoffs. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
8. ↑ "Kinetica". 2001-10-14. http://sms.dev.realpie.com/kinetica/.
9. ↑ "Santa Monica Studio". http://sms.dev.realpie.com/god-of-war/.
10. ↑ "Santa Monica Studio". http://sms.dev.realpie.com/god-of-war-ii/.
11. ↑ "God of War III". 2010-03-16. http://sms.dev.realpie.com/god-of-war-iii/.
12. ↑ "Santa Monica Studio". http://sms.dev.realpie.com/god-of-war-ascension/.
13. ↑ "God of War Game - PS4". 2019-09-13. https://www.playstation.com/en-us/games/god-of-war-ps4/.

## External links

Short description: Group of video game developers owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment

SIE Worldwide StudiosFormerly| SCE Worldwide Studios (2005–2016)

|

Type| Division
Industry| Video games
Founded| September 14, 2005; 20 years ago (2005-09-14)

Key people

| Hermen Hulst (president)

Number of employees

| 2,700+[1] (2011)
Parent| Sony Interactive Entertainment
Subsidiaries| See § Studios
Website| playstation.com/en-us/corporate/playstation-studios/

Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios (SIE Worldwide Studios) is a group of video game developers founded in September 2005 by Sony Interactive Entertainment.[2]

It is a single internal entity overseeing all wholly owned development studios within SIE. It is responsible for the creative and strategic direction of development and production of all computer entertainment software by all SIE–owned studios, all of which is typically produced exclusively for the PlayStation family of consoles.

With the launch of the PlayStation 5 in 2020, Worldwide Studios brands all releases be it internal or externally developed under the "PlayStation Studios" label.[3]

## History

SCE Worldwide Studios (SCE Worldwide Studios) was established on September 14, 2005, with Phil Harrison being appointed as president.[4] On May 16, 2008, Shuhei Yoshida became president.[5] In April 2016, Sony's Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) and Sony Network Entertainment International (SNEI) divisions merged, creating SIE Worldwide Studios.[5] Hermen Hulst succeeded Shuhei Yoshida as president of SIE Worldwide Studios on November 7, 2019, with Yoshida being delegated to lead Sony's indie development.[6]

## Studios

Name  | Location  | Founded  | Acquired

|
|
|

Bend Studio | Bend, Oregon  | 1993[7] | 2000[7]
Guerrilla Games | Amsterdam | 2000[7] | 2005[7]
Housemarque | Helsinki | 2021[8]
Insomniac Games | Burbank, California  | 1994[7] | 2019[9]
London Studio | London | 2002[7] | —
Malaysia Studio  | Kuala Lumpur | 2020[10] | —
Media Molecule | Guildford  | 2006[7] | 2010[7]
Naughty Dog | Santa Monica, California  | 1984[7] | 2001[7]
Nixxes Software | Utrecht  | 1999[11] | 2021[12]
Pixelopus | San Mateo, California  | 2014[7] | —
Polyphony Digital | Tokyo | 1998[7] | —
San Diego Studio | San Diego  | 2001[7] | —
San Mateo Studio  | San Mateo, California  | 1998[13] | —
Santa Monica Studio | Los Angeles | 1999[7] | —
Sucker Punch Productions | Bellevue, Washington  | 1997[7] | 2011[7]
Team Asobi | Tokyo | 2021[14][lower-alpha 1] | —
XDev  | Liverpool  | 2000[7] | —

1. ↑ Team Asobi was first established in 2012 as an internal team of Japan Studio, and was spun off as its own independent studio in 2021.

### Former

Name  | Location  | Founded  | Acquired  | Divested  | Fate

|
|
|
|
|

Bigbig Studios | Leamington Spa  | 2001[15] | 2007[16] | 2012[15] | Closed[15]
Evolution Studios | Runcorn  | 1999[16] | 2007[16] | 2016[17] | Closed[17]
Guerrilla Cambridge | Cambridge  | 1997[18] | —  | 2017[18] | Closed[18]
Incognito Entertainment | Salt Lake City  | 1999[19] | 2002[19] | 2009[20] | Closed[20]
Japan Studio | Tokyo | 1993[7] | —  | 2021[21] | Reorganized within SIE, primarily to Team Asobi[14]
Manchester Studio  | Manchester  | 2015[7] | —  | 2020[22] | Closed[22]
Studio Liverpool | Liverpool  | 1984[16] | 1993[16] | 2012[23] | Closed[23]
Zipper Interactive | Redmond, Washington  | 1995[24] | 2006[16] | 2012[24] | Closed[24]

## Other divisions

### ICE Team

Naughty Dog is home to the ICE Team, one of Sony's Worldwide Studios central technology groups. The term ICE originally stands for Initiative for a Common Engine which describes the original purpose of the group.[25] The ICE Team focuses on creating core graphics technologies for Sony's worldwide first party published titles, including low-level game engine components, graphics processing pipelines, supporting tools, and graphics profiling and debugging tools. The ICE Team also supports third party developers with a suite of engine components, and a graphics analysis, profiling, and debugging tool for the RSX. Both enable developers to get better performance out of PlayStation hardware.[26][27]

### XDev

XDev Europe, established in 2000 and based in Liverpool, England,[7] collaborates with independent development studios across Europe and other PAL territories to publish content to PlayStation platforms all over the world. XDev has helped to create and publish, titles such as the LittleBigPlanet, Buzz!, MotorStorm and Invizimals series, Super Stardust HD, Heavenly Sword, Heavy Rain, Beyond, Tearaway and Resogun. Partners include independent developers such as Quantic Dream, Magenta Software, Climax Studios, Novarama, Supermassive Games and Sumo Digital, as well as SCE subsidiaries such as Media Molecule and Guerrilla Games. In addition to funding projects, XDev offer full production, project management and game design support. Titles are also supported with community management, online production and dedicated outsourcing management facilities. XDev work directly with Marketing and PR teams in all Sony territories to promote and publish games worldwide.[28][29]

## References

1. ↑ "Sony Computer Entertainment Acquires Sucker Punch Productions, Developer of Top Selling Infamous Franchise". August 2, 2011. https://www.sie.com/en/corporate/release/2011/110802.html.
2. ↑ "SCE Establishes SCE Worldwide Studios" (PDF) (Press release). Sony Computer Entertainment. September 14, 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 5, 2005. Retrieved September 14, 2005.
3. ↑ Dring, Christopher (May 12, 2020). "PlayStation Studios brand will launch alongside PS5". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-05-12-sony-unveils-playstation-studios-brand-to-launch-alongside-ps5.
4. ↑ "SCE Establishes SCE Worldwide Studios" (PDF) (Press release). Sony Computer Entertainment. September 14, 2005. Retrieved 2005-09-14.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Bitsummit". http://bitsummit.org/2015/?page_id=3388.
6. ↑ "Sony appoints Guerrilla Games' Hermen Hulst new head of PlayStation worldwide studios". https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2019/11/07/sony-appoints-guerrilla-games-hermen-hulst-new-head-playstation-worldwide-studios/.
7. ↑ 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 7.11 7.12 7.13 7.14 7.15 7.16 7.17 7.18 7.19 Barker, Sammy (August 28, 2019). "Guide: All Sony First-Party Studios and What They're Working On". http://www.pushsquare.com/news/2019/08/guide_all_sony_first-party_studios_and_what_theyre_working_on.
8. ↑ Leedham, Robert (June 29, 2021). "Why PlayStation bought Returnal developer Housemarque: the inside story". https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/housemarque-sony-playstation-acquisition.
9. ↑ "Quarterly Securities Report For the three months ended December 31, 2019". p. 39. https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/library/Sony_Quarterly_Securities_Report_2019Q3.pdf.
10. ↑ "PlayStation to open development studio in Malaysia". November 8, 2019. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-11-08-playstation-to-open-malaysian-development-studio.
11. ↑ "About us". July 1, 2021. https://www.nixxes.com/about-us/. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
12. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (July 1, 2021). "Sony Buys Another Game Studio, Avengers And Rise Of The Tomb Raider's Nixxes Software". GameSpot. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/sony-buys-another-game-studio-avengers-and-rise-of-the-tomb-raiders-nixxes-software/1100-6493477/. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
13. ↑ Varela, Ramón (January 16, 2020). "PlayStation: Todos sus estudios y los juegos en desarrollo" (in es). https://vandal.elespanol.com/reportaje/playstation-todos-sus-estudios-y-los-juegos-en-desarrollo.
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 LeBlanc, Wesley (June 2, 2021). "Team Asobi Officially Announced as a PlayStation Studio, Reveals New Logo". https://www.ign.com/articles/team-asobi-official-playstation-studios-dev-new-logo.
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Yoon, Andrew (January 10, 2012). "Sony shuts down Little Deviants, Pursuit Force dev". https://www.shacknews.com/article/71918/sony-shuts-down-little-deviants-pursuit-force-dev.
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 16.5 MCV Staff (August 2, 2011). "IN DETAIL: Sony's sixteen first-party studios". https://www.mcvuk.com/in-detail-sonys-sixteen-first-party-studios/.
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Brightman, James (March 22, 2016). "Sony confirms closure of Evolution Studios". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2016-03-22-sony-confirms-closure-of-evolution-studio.
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Frank, Allegra (January 12, 2017). "Sony shuts down 20-year-old studio in European restructuring". https://www.polygon.com/2017/1/12/14251842/guerrilla-cambridge-closed.
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Cifaldi, Frank (May 13, 2011). "How Moving To Austin Energized Starhawk". https://gamasutra.com/view/feature/134746/how_moving_to_austin_energized_.php.
20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Plunkett, Luke (January 16, 2012). "Every Game Studio That's Closed Down Since 2006". https://kotaku.com/every-game-studio-thats-closed-down-since-2006-5876693.
21. ↑ Robinson, Andy; Calvin, Alex (February 25, 2021). "Sources: PlayStation is winding down Sony Japan Studio". Video Games Chronicle. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/sources-playstation-is-winding-down-sony-japan-studio/. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Dring, Christopher (February 4, 2020). "PlayStation to close Manchester VR studio". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-02-04-playstation-to-close-manchester-vr-studio.
23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Yin-Poole, Wesley (July 21, 2015). "WipEout: The rise and fall of Sony Studio Liverpool". https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-03-22-wipeout-the-rise-and-fall-of-sony-studio-liverpool.
24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 Moriarty, Colin (March 31, 2012). "Confirmed: Sony Closes Zipper Interactive". https://www.ign.com/articles/2012/03/30/confirmed-sony-closes-zipper-interactive.
25. ↑ Mark Cerny's "Road to the PS4" @ Gamelab 2013 . YouTube (June 27, 2013). Retrieved on July 16, 2013.
26. ↑ Naughty Dog Careers . Naughtydog.com. Retrieved on July 16, 2013.
27. ↑ Sony’s Secret Super Development Team . PS3 Attitude (June 5, 2009). Retrieved on July 16, 2013.
28. ↑ Sony XDev Europe . Official Site
29. ↑ Worldwide Studios/XDev . XDev on Worldwidestudios.net

## External links

* v
* t
* e

SIE Worldwide Studios

Franchises|

* Ape Escape
* Arc the Lad
* Bloodborne
* Boku no Natsuyasumi
* Colony Wars
* Dark Cloud
* Everybody's Golf
* Fat Princess
* G-Police
* God of War
* Gran Turismo
* Infamous
* Jak and Daxter
* Killzone
* LittleBigPlanet
* MediEvil
* MotorStorm
* PaRappa the Rapper
* Patapon
* Rally Cross
* Ratchet & Clank
* Resistance
* Shadow of the Beast
* Sly Cooper
* SOCOM
* Syphon Filter
* The Last of Us
* Tomba!
* Twisted Metal
* Uncharted
* Vib-Ribbon
* White Knight Chronicles
* Wild Arms
* Wipeout

Divisions|

* Bend Studio
* Japan Studio
* Team Gravity
* London Studio
* Pixelopus
* San Diego Studio
* San Mateo Studio
* Santa Monica Studio

Subsidiaries|

* Guerrilla Games
* Insomniac Games
* Media Molecule
* Naughty Dog
* Polyphony Digital
* Sucker Punch Productions

Former|

* 989 Studios
* Bigbig Studios
* Camden Studio
* Contrail
* Evolution Studios
* Guerrilla Cambridge
* Incognito Entertainment
* Psygnosis
* Studio Liverpool
* Team Ico
* Team Soho
* Zipper Interactive

Related|

* Sony Interactive Entertainment
* list of games

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