Alanah Pearce, an ex-IGN games journalist who most recently worked for Rooster Teeth, has joined Sony Santa Monica as a writer. The Australian scribe – who has a massive social media following, including a YouTube channel with over 500k subscribers – announced the news on Twitter earlier today.
“I’m finally allowed to announce my new job,” she said, following her departure from Rooster Teeth earlier in the year, “as a video game writer at Sony Santa Monica, who you probably know as the studio who make God of War. I am so, so proud to be a part of this incredible team.”
Maybe we’re reading into things a little too deeply, but the wording of the Tweet implies that she may not be working on the upcoming God of War Ragnarok. That would probably make sense, as the sequel is due out in 2021, and most of its script is probably finished by now. Could she have been recruited for a new project? Time will tell.
Congrats to Alanah whatever she’s up to!
[source twitter.com]
Comments 76
Wow. Isn't she like a hardcore Xbox fan? Didn't see this one coming.
@Enuo They're all hardcore "whoever pays my bills the most" fans.
@Enuo pretty sure. Definitely an interesting move. I’ve never been a huge fan personally but I know she has a big following so I’m all for this move
@Enuo No, she's not. Alanah has recently said she slightly prefers PlayStation to Xbox.
Been aware of Alanah since her IGN days, always seemed like a really cool person. All the best at Sony Santa Monica!
@LiamCroft Hm. Learn something new every day is suppose.
It doesn't matter which console she prefers, if the opportunity to work at one of the best studios in the world opens up, you're probably going to take it.
Congrats to her! Now I wonder if Naughty Dog's looking for an ex-games writer of the Push Square variety...?
So, what are her credentials for this job again? Aren't you suppose to have a degree in creative writing or something? Seems like they hire her for her "fame" and nothing else.
@Turbodream Sony Santa Monica does not need to raise its profile. Its games sell millions of copies already.
@get2sammyb Good point, but why your article put the emphasis on her "massive social media following" like it's important and/or a job skill for that job ?
@Enuo was thinking the same! I had her deeply associated with xbox.
@get2sammyb I forbid you from going to Naughty Dog. Dread to think how far you'd go to reference sickly sweet pop songs and foolish pursuits like American "football".
She has interacted with Cory and his wife so much over the years this doesn't surprise me at all. This was one of my guesses to where she was going.
Sammy likes american football? As an American video game nerd, I'm offended!
@ShogunRok Part of The Last of Us 2 is set in Seattle Seahawks' stadium, so they don't need me for that!
god damn she looks good and professional.
Welcome to the dark side
@Turbodream Well, she's obviously known right now as a journalist/influencer/host, but clearly they believe she's talented enough or they wouldn't have hired her.
Sony Santa Monica makes Game of the Year calibre games, so I'm sure they know what to look for when recruiting talent.
I don't know how it goes but imagine for a second you land a job there, but you cannot go physically because of the pandemic... God (of war)... Just let me walk the offices saying hi to everyone the first day. Dreamed.
@God_of_Nowt Thanks for the explanation. My main gripe though is that journalism work and writing fiction is two entire different beasts.
Would like to hear from someone with experience with writing for games what it is like.
@get2sammyb You'd find a way to take the characters all over America. Visit every stadium. All of them modelled in perfect detail.
@NEStalgia Big Blue 'til I die.
@Turbodream She has written multiple pieces of fiction in her spare time, consulted on games, and has sat in on writing meetings of other developers.
This isn’t Santa Monica saying “you do good journalism so come over and write the next God of War with us”. She has already been doing it for a while.
@LiamCroft Good to know!
Is she a double agent? lol
Pretty cool, she’s a great writer and should be in her element. Anyone saying she’s not qualified if she doesn’t have a degree in creative writing clearly has no idea about anything related to the tech industry. Plenty of devs who made your favourite games never went to Uni.
@get2sammyb you couldn't do any worse than tlou2 writers 😏
I hope god of war still use their own writer, the last time sony studio (nd) change their writer, we got tlou2 😕
@Enuo @BamBamBaklava89 Yeah, she always defend xbox or talk positively about them, I remember while people talk about the bad xbox shows (the game is bad and only cgi), she's defending them talking about gamepass.
@vapidwolf Oh, I definitely could!
Shes extremely hot💖.a dimepiece.word up son
Nice typo, professional writer.
@playstation1995 damn right she is. Word 👆 brother
I don't like her as an internet personality but have no idea whether she can write or not... has she published anything?
@djape. Haha she sure looks like shes pointing at her tits.haha.thats funny.👍haha.word up son
@Kidfunkadelic83. Shes the kind of girl youre proud of.and every man wants her.you get a girl like her you good for life.shes a 10.word is bond.word life.word to your mother.word up son
@playstation1995 "Shes extremely hot" 🙄
"Shes the kind of girl youre proud of.and every man wants her.you get a girl like her you good for life.shes a 10"
This is really cringe even for you 😬
BTW are we sure writer means game writer? it could mean like writer for press releases, scripts for the Ubi youtube thing that's replacing E3 and things like that... that would make more sense
@playstation1995 heck yeah mate
gratz, now get the f*ck to work XD
Her Play, Watch, Listen podcast is particular good, since it has a diverse set of viewpoints. I hope it continues.
Yes it could be for one of those small games SSM help develop at times though.
Wow some unececessary comments on here 🤨
Alanah is cool. Im sure she will do really well. Best of luck to her.
Santa Monica have been recruiting an impressively diverse team recently. It will be fantastic to see what they do this gen. Be it God of War or something new!!
Spreading on the misogynism nice and thickly this morning aren't we lads? Well done you.
@Kidfunkadelic83 @playstation1995 Please don’t do this.
@LiamCroft Did you expect her to say she prefers xbox when (about to be) working at Sony?
@get2sammyb you couldn’t leave us Sammy
@Turbodream Thats a big thing too say is it your idea or can you back UP those claims?
These comments are a little odd to me. If you need proof she's got the writing chops needed to work at Santa Monica Studio, well, they just hired her. Surely that says plenty. Also, she's free to like whatever consoles she wants, let's not be massive children about this. And let's also not objectify her (or anybody) in the comments, please.
Congratulations to Alanah, I'm sure she'll do great.
@Turbodream can you stop crying already?! jeez!
sigh these slightly sexist comments are the reason why i interact less and less with this site these days.
from racism to unreasonable hostilty,this website's comunity has gone down hill so much in just a few years...
anyway congrats to alanah,did not see this coming as i always saw her as "team xbox".
Is it bad that when I see comments from playstation1995, djape, Kidfunkadelic83 on here I think of Jason Mendoza, Pillboi, Donkey Doug from The Good Place?
There's some superb conspiracy theories and stuff in here.
"A writer was hired for a writing job and also it's a woman... allow me to put my Sherlock Holmes hat on and get to the bottom of why they really hired her..."
@nessisonett and it shows. Most video games are far from great at telling a story.
Ha when they sent her the T-shirt they should have sent her a new Sony phone.
@Enuo "Wow. Isn't she like a hardcore Xbox fan?" well yes but she's also a hardcore Playstation, PC and Switch fan who often disparages the console war and fanboy BS. AKA a real gamer
Can’t understand the misogynistic comments on here. If it was a guy that was given the job, would the same people be asking what his credentials are? Anyway, congrats to Alanah, seems like a cool person & her YouTube videos are good. We should all be happy for her, it’s a dream job.
She's in Cyberpunk 2077 so that a big cool bonus right there.
That's awesome, good for her!
Interesting news, I like her opinion as she always comes across as honest and isn't swayed by public opinion and I really like that quality. This is one of the reasons I always take reviews in OPM with a pinch of salt!
She was a regular contributor to the Beyond Playstation podcast and always stood by her scores (Days Gone is a great example) whilst I don't necessarily agree and other co-hosts didn't either she always gave a valid reason which you have to respect.
Good luck to her and anyone lucky enough to work in gaming
@themightyant So I'm not a real gamer because I only play on PS?
🤔
I'm sure that's not what you meant.
Anyway, yeah congrats. I'm sure Santa Monica know what they're doing. Can't say I've been too impressed by her content but maybe that's being harsh.
@Darten true 👍🏻
As a heads up to everyone, she explained on her youtube vid that she's actually built up experience writing for other small game projects behind the scenes over the last 5 years (if i remember correctly)
@Col_McCafferty No I didn't mean that, as I think you know.
You can play only mobile and be a real gamer imho.
My words were in the context of "isn't she like a hardcore Xbox fan" which she is yet also a fan of other platforms and vehemently dislikes the console war BS. Gamers play games not platforms.
The "real gamer" part was not a statement as to which platforms you play on, but if you are engaging in hatred and insulting others, pushing them down to feel better about yourself based on a system you/they play on, then you aren't a real gamer - you are a hater who plays games.
It's like the football "fans" who are more interested in the fighting, insults and drama than the sport itself. Not real fans.
@LiamCroft @Enuo personally think people dislike her because she sad during the ps5 price announcement stream with geoff keighley that its a stupid move from sony to keep making games for 60 to 80 bucks and make games like microsoft and sell them like they do with gamepass.
Instead of making 50 million dollar games.
And now she works for 1 of the biggest playstation developers.
Please people leave her alone she is a human being not a robot without feelings.
@MrDropCombo Indeed she's talked for years how her two big passions are gaming and writing.
She has a journalism degree and writes frequently so it's a natural step that's taken a lot of hard work and sacrifice. I mean how many of us actually leave our families and homeland to fly half way round the world to pursue a career.
Dedication and hard work paying off. Good luck to her.
Her podcast - Play, Watch, Listen - with Austin Wintory (VG composer), Mike Bithell (VG Director) and Troy Baker (relater) is brilliant weekly viewing/listening. (though it's often not always about videogames and likely too liberal for some tastes)
@jdv95 Completely agree. The comment sections have been going down the drain for a while. Used to be one of the few gaming sites where folks treated each other with respect shared balanced opinions. Now it's more like IGN every day. Some absolutely shocking views and attitudes being expressed above, and what's worse, with barely any pushback from the site itself. That Djape's original comment, in particular, is still sitting there is shameful.
@HUMPERDOO 100% shameful and embarrassing.
Considering the trainwreck that is Roosterteeth right now I don't blame her for leaving that company.
@themightyant Hmm I'm not sure someone who only plays Candy Crush or similar on their phone is a real gamer.
Also, what's the harm in some gentle ribbing? In gaming or sport or life in general?
😉
Certain games are more prevalent on specific platforms so what you play is often governed by where. Nintendo definitely aim for the family market in a way that Xbox most certainly don't. I would say PS is somewhere on
In between.
Xbox aims for the online gamers but obviously these are also catered for on PS. Xbox has some good SP titles but in the main these are from third parties whilst Sony of course excels in this regard whilst still giving us the capability of playing sp masterpieces like RDR2 and The Witcher 3.
Not getting into PC as I believe that is definitely aimed at a different type of gamer to those that play on console.
@Mega-Gazz Yea me to I enjoy those Play Watch Listen, think the last one she was late because she was doing the interview for this new job.
@Col_McCafferty "Also, what's the harm in some gentle ribbing? In gaming or sport or life in general?" Nothing... If it stays at that and both parties are on board with it (many aren't).
But the real trouble is it rarely stays that way and all too easily descends from one upmanship to tit-for-tat to blind tribalism and all the worse by-products of that - Irrational animosity, hatred etc. More often that not it harms more than it helps.
so working at IGN gets you a job writing games at a big studio this is an odd one 🤔 Time will tell anyway! if it was a male writer at IGN I would say the same! some people on this site take things from 0-100 real quick🤦♀️
@Cyrus29 Yes, I would question the credentials if she was a man, woman, transperson, hermaphrodite, intersex, etc. because the article doesn't provide anything relevant and talks only about her e-fame.
Some people were kind enough to provide that info in the comments so my curiosity is satiated.
@daveofduncan I find it hilarious that you single me out for the "crime" of asking what are her credentials when you have way more obvious targets for your anger.
@Flaming_Kaiser Do you yourself write? It's simpler to understand if you do. Writing fiction vs nonfiction (content) is very different and you also have to keep in mind the fact that the medium you use (container) has a big influence due to limitations inherent to them (writing a movie script vs writing a play script for example).
At the most basic, you absolutely need a good imagination/creativity to write fiction and you absolutely need to be able to do good research to write nonfiction. For example, I can easily write a competent essay, a review or an opinion piece, but I would struggle with writing a good novel or play.
You can't really teach people to be imaginative but school can give them tools and methods to help the process, like how to write realistic dialogues or how to use descriptions effectively. Don't get me wrong, people can learn and hone them on their own with practice and experience too if they are motivated and/or skilled enough. I mean, you rarely see authors writing their magnum opus in their 20s and 30s.
Anyways, that's just my 2 cents.
It's sad that this article and its posting on n4g.com has led to some absolutely horrible comments from people. She got the job, and I wish her well. She does not need public judgment on whether she is capable, the only person who needs to do that is Santa Monica Studio. They did. She got the job.
@CKFilms very true👍🏻
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