Former Gears of War Developer Joined Santa Monica Studio

Bonnie Jean Mah, who is a video game director, writer and designer, joined Santa Monica Studio as a Narrative Director. She shared that information with selfie.

A New Member for Santa Monica Studio

Santa Monica Studio is best known with God of War Series. In the latest years, Santa Monica Studio made a lot of success with their projects. There have been teases and job listings, notably one that pertains to an unannounced third person action game much like God of War. Everything must be taken with a grain of salt, yet a recent announcement may hint at a new sci-fi game from Santa Monica Studio.

Through an official announcement, Bonnie Jean Mah shared her new job position as a Narrative Director at Santa Monica Studio. She went on to share a selfie of herself and a statue of Kratos, captioned with the news of her joining the team and studio with enthusiasm.

To see what could be in store for Santa Monica Studio’s future projects, it’s important to look back on some of the work that Bonnie Jean Mah has accomplished. Starting as an owner of Stormchaser Productions, Mah went on to serve as a Narrative Designer for Relic Entertainment/THQ Canada from November 2008 to June 2012.

There, she worked on a couple of games from the Warhammer franchise, such as Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine and the canceled Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online; she was also a writer for both games.

Years later, she would move on to Black Tusk Studios (now known as The Coalition) to work on the Gears of War series as a Franchise Narrative Manager, Narrative Designer, and Narrative Producer. She would eventually go back to conduct work for the Age of Empire 4 title at Relic Entertainment as a Senior Designer/Narrative Lead before becoming the Franchise Narrative Director at The Coalition in 2020.

Thus, she would sign on to be the Narrative Director at TiMi Studio Group, a subsidiary of Tencent Games. It was at this company that she worked on an “original-IP open world RPG,” though no details have been disclosed. She ended her tenure in November 2023 to become Santa Monica Studio’s newest Narrative Director.

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Bonnie Jean Mah’s newest position could suggest that a sci-fi project may indeed be in the works at Santa Monica Studio. Having previously worked with third-person shooters, coupled with the unannounced God of War-like action, it’s possible that Santa Monica Studio could be diving into futuristic territory.

Writer Alanah Pearce did confirm that the studio was working on a sci-fi game, though players will have to wait until an official announcement is made.