God of War Dev SCE Santa Monica Cuts Jobs

God of War developer Sony Computer Entertainment Santa Monica has been laid off. It is not known how many people are on the street, but the studio will not be closed down. The reason for the layoff may be the cancellation of an unannounced game.

The news was picked up by and confirmed to gaming website IGN. Whether the layoffs are a result of God of War: Ascension’s disappointing sales or because an undisclosed developer project has just been cancelled, know not even one of the former employees of SCE Santa Monica. He reports also that the unannounced project had been in development since the release of God of War 3 nearly four years ago. Sony will not disclose the number of employees involved, but says the affected employees will receive severance payments and further guidance.

It is striking that SCE Santa Monica moved to a new studio in Los Angeles in January of this year. Shannon Studstill, CEO of the studio, writes on the PlayStation Blog that the SCE Santa Monica is “moving to a new location to meet the needs of our growing team in this new era for the studio.” At the time of the blog post, the studio had over 220 employees.

The unnamed project could have been a science fiction game. At the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con, Michael Angeli, the writer of the Battlestar Galactica television series, revealed that he was working on a game with SCE Santa Monica, but that it was not a God of War game. In addition, there is an easter egg in God of War: Ascension that also suggests that the studio was working on a sci-fi game, Eurogamer reports.