Naughty Dogis undoubtedly one of the premier development teams under the illustrious PlayStation banner. Acquired by Sony in 2001, Naughty Dog made a name for itself in its early days with the highly successfulCrash BandicootandJak and Daxterfranchises. 2007 marked a turning point forNaughty Dog, as the studio releasedUncharted: Drake’s Fortunethat year and consequently spawned a beloved treasure-hunting series. Naughty Dog kept up its winning streak in the following decade with 2013’sThe Last of Us, 2016’sUncharted 4: A Thief’s End, 2017’sUncharted: The Lost Legacy, and finally,The Last of Us Part 2in 2020. A track record this strong is difficult for many PlayStation studios to match, much less exceed.
However, there is one PlayStation first-party team that has delivered hit after hit for years - Santa Monica Studio. Established in 1999, Santa Monica Studio has overseen thelaudedGod of Warseriesfor nearly two decades. As one of PlayStation’s longest-running franchises,God of Warhas sold over 66 million copies as of November 2023. More impressively, not a single mainlineGod of Wargame has dipped below an 80% critic score on Metacritic, and the series' 2018 reboot even took home the coveted Game of the Year award. It’s commendable how Santa Monica Studio and Naughty Dog have kept their respective franchises fresh, but both teams must be cognizant of a big potential overlap in their rumored upcoming projects.
Santa Monica Studio and Naughty Dog Are Reportedly Developing New Sci-Fi IPs
After exclusively developingGod of Wargames for almost 20 years, Santa Monica finally has a new IP in the works. This was strongly rumored after the release ofGod of War (2018), and Santa Monica Studio job listings in recent years outright confirmed the development of a new IP. Interestingly, one of Santa Monica Studio’s internal teams was working on a brand-new sci-fi IP prior toGod of War (2018), but the project was unfortunately canceled. Therefore, there is some precedence forSanta Monica Studio’s upcoming new IPto feature sci-fi elements as well, potentially even carrying forward a lot of the work done for the canceled project.
Rather serendipitously, Naughty Dog is also working on a new IP after 17 years of alternating betweenThe Last of UsandUnchartedseries. The secrecy around Naughty Dog’s new IP almost matches that of Santa Monica’s, but there are more rumors surrounding the former. For one, Naughty Dog president Neil Druckmann is heavily rumored to be directing the new IP, and reports claim it could feature a large degree of player freedom. Naughty Dog’s new IP might also be its next game instead ofThe Last of Us 3. The genre of Naughty Dog’s new IP remains unknown, though, with rumors pointing to either fantasy or sci-fi. Naughty Dog fans are inclined towards the latter as many of them believe thatThe Last of Us Part 2’sSavage Starlightcomic collectibles may have been hinting at a new sci-fi gamefrom the studio.
While PlayStation fans are delighted at the prospect of all-new sci-fi IPs from two of the brand’s most decorated first-party studios, this potential overlap in genres could turn out unfavorable for either Naughty Dog or Santa Monica Studio. To add context, there could arise a similar situation to the one faced byDays Gonein 2019. Bend Studio’s open-world zombie horde game launched during an era when the open-world and zombie genres flooded the market.Bend Studio did attempt to differentiateDays Gonefrom other zombie games, but it didn’t do much to slow down comparisons toThe Last of Us. Moreover, the release ofThe Last of Us Part 2just over a year later further dimmed the flickering spotlight overDays Gone.
Therefore, if Naughty Dog and Santa Monica Studio are indeed working on new sci-fi IPs, the one that makes it to market first could become the benchmark for fans, and the one that releases after may suffer as a result of the comparisons. Moreover, thesci-fi genre has substantially grownthanks to recent high-profile releases likeStarfield,Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2,The Outer Worlds, and more, as well as upcoming games likeJudas,Mass Effect 4,Directive 8020, etc., so there’s a lot of third-party rivalry for Santa Monica Studio and Naughty Dog to contend with in the coming years. It remains to be seen what their games ultimately look like, but given the vast breadth of the sci-fi genre, Santa Monica Studio and Naughty Dog may just come up with remarkably distinct experiences.
