Netflix hires God of War art director to develop its new AAA game

Former God of War art director Raf Grassetti has joined Netflix to help develop its new AAA IP alongside Halo veteran Joseph Staten and other big-name industry talent.

Grassetti himself announced the news on his personal Twitter account, writing, "I'm really excited to build a team and to work with the amazing Joseph Staten, Jerry Edsall, and Chacko Sonny to bring a new world to life."

After helming Halo Infinite, Staten announced his departure from Microsoft in April, and it was announced that he'd joined Netflix as creative director shortly thereafter. Grassetti has joined Netflix as art director, which makes sense given his pedigree.

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Grassetti joined Sony Santa Monica in 2013 as a lead character artist after similar roles at Bioware and PlayStation, where he worked on several first-party releases. He served as principal artist on 2018's God of War and moved up to art director for the 2022 sequel, God of War Ragnarok.

Grassetti and Staten are joined by other industry titans including Edsall, a lead developer on Gears 4 and 5, and Sonny, former executive producer of Overwatch. We have virtually no information on the project this super group is cooking up, beyond the fact that's a AAA project being developed for multiple platforms, but it's clear Netflix is betting big here. Of the 70 games in development at Netflix's partner studios and the 16 in the works in-house, this untitled project is undoubtedly one of the studio's most high-profile efforts.

For everything on the horizon from studios big and small, here's a comprehensive guide to new games of 2023.