God of War art director joins Naughty Dog – What is the studio working on?

Rafael Grassetti, a seasoned artist who worked as an art director in both God of War (2018) and its sequel, God of War: Ragnarök, has recently made a surprise announcement on his personal Twitter/X account.

That’s right, with a cryptic but exciting message that simply says “New chapter”, Grassetti officially announced that he has joined Naughty Dog, the famous Sony developer behind great games like Uncharted or The Last of Us. While he didn’t specify what his new role at the studio is, he’s most likely going to keep working as an artist, possibly even as an art director, in one of its upcoming games.

Image via Santa Monica Studio/Steam

After all, Grassetti has not only worked as art director in the two most recent God of War games (Both of which were constantly praised for their beautiful art), but he also worked as a character artist in multiple other projects, like The Order: 1886, Killzone: Shadow Fall and Mass Effect 3. His personal LinkedIn also reveals that he left Santa Monica Studio back in May 2023 before joining Netflix’s failed AAA game studio, which shut down back in October.

Fortunately for Grassetti, he was able to return to another one of Sony’s many subsidiaries. Considering that people often praise Naughty Dog’s games for their excellent art direction and that Grassetti has proven how talented he is over and over, he seems like a perfect fit for the studio, and whatever project he’ll eventually work on will certainly benefit from his skills.

So, what exactly is Naughty Dog working on now?

Image via PlayStation

Rafael Grassetti’s new position at Naughty Dog is exciting, but it also left us with one big question: What exactly is he going to work on now? After all, the studio has focused mainly on the The Last of Us IP in the last few years, including a PS5 remake of Part 1 and a PS5 remaster of Part 2 that came out in January 2024. The series’ creator and director, Neil Druckmann has even hinted that he’s already working on a potential The Last of Us Part 3.

But, the problem is that Naughty Dog has most likely been working on a third entry in the The Last of Us franchise for a very long time. Considering that art direction is usually one of the first steps of the game development process, it’s extremely unlikely that the studio exclusively hired Grassetti so he can work on the art of The Last of Us Part 3, meaning that it’s possible he’s already working on its next big project.

What is this video game going to be? Nobody knows, but many people have accused Naughty Dog of focusing too much on the Last of Us series since at least 2020, so maybe it’s time for it to unveil a brand-new IP, not to mention that Druckmann has already hinted that this is exactly what they’re doing. After all, this is the studio that brought us classic franchises like Crash Bandicoot, Jak & Daxter and Uncharted, so it would be both fascinating and refreshing to see what its developers can do now, especially with a talented artist like Grassetti in the art director’s chair.

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