God Of War Dev Had A New IP Canceled After $25 Million Was Spent On It

GAMING NEWS

Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida has shared insight into some of the biggest cancellations during his tenure, including a previously unknown new IP from God of War developer Santa Monica Studio. Sony invested around $25 million into the project and believed it had strong potential, but ultimately chose to shut it down after years of development.

Speaking on the My Perfect Console podcast, Yoshida said the game was not related to God of War, but featured a “really amazing concept” with “very interesting gameplay ideas.” Despite this, the studio itself eventually approached Yoshida to say development wasn’t working out.

"They came to me and said, 'We have to stop.' The concept was great, but the gameplay didn’t really come to be," Yoshida said.

Yoshida didn’t provide a specific timeline for the cancellation. Earlier this year, Sony reportedly canceled a live-service God of War game, but Yoshida clarified that the project he referenced was an entirely new IP.

The former PlayStation leader also reflected on the general nature of cancellations in game development, noting that many projects don’t survive early prototyping. However, canceling something far into development—like the Santa Monica title—comes with a much heavier cost.

He also mentioned another major cancellation from a European studio, describing it as a “big-budget project” without a solid core gameplay hook.

"These days, $25 million cancellation is nothing special. There are much bigger cancellations," Yoshida noted.

Despite the financial loss, Yoshida argued that canceling struggling projects is often the healthier choice for developers. Continuing only increases budget waste and drains team morale.

"Not doing this means we can do something different, something new. Let's do the fresh restart," Yoshida said of how he approached cancellation conversations.

Yoshida, who retired from Sony earlier this year after more than three decades, has recently spoken out about PlayStation’s live-service strategy, Horizon Forbidden West's sales performance, and the ongoing absence of a Bloodborne remaster.

By GameSpot News

3 min read · Nov 2025