God of War’s Massive Success Led Sony to Demand a Sequel in Half the Time, Twice the Length, and More Bosses
The success of God of War was so big that Sony’s leaders asked Santa Monica Studio, the developer, to quickly make a sequel that was twice as long, with more enemies and more bosses. This is the classic story of a miracle project that led to God of War 2.
Ariel Lawrence, the game director at Santa Monica, shared her experience. “We didn’t know what God of War, the first one, would do,” she said. “When it finally released we were like, ‘Oh wow! Everybody loves it.”
The Heroes at Santa Monica
As you might know, when you achieve good results at work, you are often given even bigger and harder tasks, just like in this case.
“The company came around and was like: ‘Okay, you’re gonna make the second one. And you’re gonna do it in half the time, and it’s gonna be twice as long with more bosses and enemies,” Lawrence remembered. “All of us were like, ‘Okay.'”
In truth, God of War II took a lot from the first game, but it was still a very massive project, requiring a huge amount of work.
“We did it,” said Lawrence, adding: “I don’t remember a lot of sleep those years. The rally at the end – I think close is one of my favorite times. It’s crazy sauce.”
We hope they didn’t have to do too much crunch time. In any case, everything turned out well, and both God of War games in the new series are playable on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC.
