We might have just gotten a little tease about what Sony Santa Monica (you know, that PlayStation first-party studio that developed God of FREAKING War!) is working on next, and from an unlikely source: The Katee Sackhoff Show podcast. 

This week’s guest was former Sony Santa Monica writer Alanah Pearce who, among other things, has been a games journalist at IGN, creator at Rooster Teeth, and an actor in many a video game including Cyberpunk 2077 and the upcoming Dispatch. She also appeared in an episode of the Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune definitive playthrough on the old Retro Replay.

NOTE: Please be aware that this is speculation but it’s not out of the realms of possibility.

Around the 20 minute mark, Alanah tells Katee a story about how she was trying to solve a story problem at the studio while she was zoning out playing Powerwash Simulator. Here’s the rub: Powerwash Simulator was released into version 1.0 in July 2022 on PC and Xbox (there was an early access period in 2021 but let’s set that aside for one second). God of War Ragnarok was released in November 2022, so I think it’s very unlikely for a story and game design problem to remain unresolved at that point in development. 

There is also another element to this. In one of Alanah’s videos where she responds to dumb internet trolls, she confirms that she didn’t “do shit” on God of War Ragnarok, primarily working with the accessibility teams to make sure the game was playable by as many people as possible - a worthy pursuit! For a disclaimer, there was the free DLC roguelike mode for Ragnarok (Valhalla) that was released in December 2023 which could make sense in the timeline, but I’m assuming she wasn’t talking about this either. However, this does mean that Alanah was probably working on the much-rumored second project from SSM, most likely being fronted by Cory Barlog. 

So, why is this so interesting? 

Because Alanah said that she hopes that she gets to tell people this awesome problem solving, game design defining story someday because “fans of the franchise will find it so interesting.” 

FANS OF THE FRANCHISE?!?!

What franchise are we talking about? A new God of War? A spin-off? A different PlayStation IP? How about a different IP from a different media? My head is spinning!!! What if they’re working on a dormant franchise like Uncharted? I mean, Naughty Dog aren’t touching it right now! PlayStation aren’t afraid of touching Marvel or Disney IP, so what if Star Wars? 

Am I reading too much into this? Maybe. Maybe it was a slip of the tongue, or an incorrect word choice but it’s definitely got my cogs whirring. 

What do you think? Is this a clue to what Sony Santa Monica’s new game is, or am I too hung up on a turn of phrase? Let me know in the comments where you can also tell me what franchise you would want them to be working on!