A God of War 2D action platformer probably wasn’t on anyone’s bingo card for the recent State of Play livestream, but not only is the game real, but it’s also out right now for PS5. God of War: Sons of Sparta is a new project from Mega Cat Studios, a developer with a very cool name and a storied history since its founding in 2015–as well as a heartwarming story behind how it settled on its studio name.
On the PlayStation Blog, Mega Cat Studios founder and CEO James Deighan revealed that a real feline helped inspire the identity of the studio.
“We had a beloved cat that I had as a pet that passed. One of our [team members’ now-wife] volunteers at a local animal shelter here, and she was serving a few bottle babies. [Bottle babies] are whenever the shelters are completely overburdened with animals, the trained [certified] volunteers can take home and help raise them,” Deighan explained. “I was dealing with some pet-loss heartbreak, as you do, and [the shelter had] this one, really aggressive runt in the litter that we ended up taking home and bottle feeding and spending some time with. That was Mega Cat.”
Deighan added that “Mega Cat” made it onto the list as a potential name for the studio. After receiving overwhelmingly positive responses from friends, family, and colleagues, the name stuck. “Early years, it really worked to our advantage, because people confused us with Mad Catz,” Deighan said.
In case you missed it, God of War: Sons of Sparta explores Kratos’ early years during his brutal training in the Agoge alongside his brother Kratos. Santa Monica Studio developed the story for this prequel, which also sees original Kratos voice actor TC Carson return to voice the adult Kratos. Carson will also be involved in Santa Monica’s full remake of the original God of War trilogy.