Former God of War art director joins Netflix’s AAA project

Raf Grassetti, the former art director for God of War Ragnarök, has joined former Halo veteran Joseph Staten over at Netflix Games.

The details:

• Grassetti has announced via his Twitter account that he has joined Netflix Games as an art director to work on a new AAA IP alongside Staten, former Coalition Technical Director Jerry Edsall, and ex-Overwatch executive producer Chacko Sonny.
• Grassetti previously worked as a character artist and art supervisor at BioWare and PlayStation before joining Santa Monica Studio in 2013. During his decade-long tenure at the studio, he started as a lead character artist before becoming a principal artist for the critically acclaimed God of War and later the art director for its sequel. In May, he announced his departure, stating that he would reveal his next role soon.
• Outside of the fact that it is a new multiplatform IP, not much is known about the project, though job descriptions indicate that it could be a third-person action RPG. The streaming giant began hiring for a number of positions at its new Los Angeles-based studio in January, as part of its ongoing plans to enter the gaming space.

More gaming news:

• Despite a seven-year development cycle, BioWare's Anthem was put together in just 15 months, according to a former developer. The developer and other team members allegedly worked up to 90-hour work weeks for nearly a year and a half.
• The Witcher 3 has sold 50 million units, bringing the series total to 75 million, and has surpassed the first generation of Pokemon games to become the ninth best-selling game of all time.