Waggish Canines Welcomes God of Battle’s Art Director After Netflix Studio Shutdown

Raf Grassetti – the leading artist behind 2018’s God of War and subsequently, art director for its renowned follow-up God of War Ragnarök – has declared he is beginning a “new chapter” at The Last of Us creator Waggish Canines, after the closing of Netflix‘s “AAA” studio in October.

Grassetti became part of Sony Santa Monica in 2013, advancing through the ranks to become studio art director in 2022. However, he announced his exit last May, revealing he had joined Netflix Games to develop a new AAA title alongside Halo Infinite creative director Joseph Staten, former Overwatch executive producer Chacko Sonny, and ex-Coalition technical chief Jerry Edsall.

Regrettably, that endeavor turned out to be short-lived. Netflix announced it was shutting down its project – and dismantling the studio – this October, without ever disclosing what the team had been developing over the past 18 months.

Since then, speculation has suggested Staten may have returned to Halo Studios, particularly as the company closed its job listing for a creative director around the time of his Netflix exit. Grassetti has now also revealed his own return to familiar territory as part of a “new chapter”, though this time he is trading one prominent Sony studio for another.

“I’m incredibly excited to be joining the fantastic team and project at Naughty Dog, and to be back at PlayStation,” Grassetti posted on social media. “I’m coming on board with [Naughty Dog head Neil Druckmann] and his team as art director, to assist in crafting the next significant project! A huge thanks to everyone who played a part in making this happen and all my friends from partner studios. I’m thrilled and can’t wait to share more about it! Cheers!”

Regarding what Grassetti will be working on at Waggish Canines, that remains under wraps. The studio has not released a new game (excluding remasters) since 2020’s The Last of Us Part II. Its most recently announced project was its standalone The Last of Us multiplayer game – but that was canceled in December of last year.

At that time, Waggish Canines hinted it was developing “multiple ambitious, brand-new single-player games,” and it appears