Glen Schofield, the Dead Space veteran and co-founder of Striking Distance Studios that created The Callisto Protocol is leaving the studio after the flop. Schofield founded the studio in conjunction with the Korean giant Krafton back in 2019. Bloomberg reported that a Krafton representative confirmed the departure of Glen Schofield who is leaving alongside two other executives of Striking Distance.
Glen Schofield Departs the Studio Behind The Callisto Protocol
As reported by Bloomberg, CEO Glen Schofield is leaving the studio with the chief operating officer, Stacey Hirata, and chief financial officer, Johnny Hsu. A Krafton representative stated that he has “decided to pursue new opportunities.” Krafton stated that all three departures were leaving voluntarily. Although Glen Schofield did not reveal what these new opportunities are, he addressed his departure by saying,
“Creating Striking Distance Studios has been an incredible journey, and I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved with The Callisto Protocol, a game close to my heart. While pursuing a new adventure is exciting, leaving SDS is bittersweet, but I know the studio is in excellent hands.”
A new management is being appointed for the studio and chief development officer Steve Papoutsis will now take over as chief executive officer. Papoutsis had previously worked with Glen Schofield at Crystal Dynamics and they also worked on the first Dead Space title at Visceral Games. He has also worked on multiple spin-off games at Electronic Arts.
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Striking Distance Studios – The Callisto Protocol Story
Striking Distance Studios was founded three years ago by Glen Schofield and is owned by Krafton, the company behind the popular battle royale title PUBG. The studio was founded to make a game like Dead Space and the result was The Callisto Protocol, a third-person survival horror game.
The Callisto Protocol was released in December last year and contrary to everyone’s expectations at the studio, the game saw mixed reviews. It was also full of bugs and technical issues and was heavily criticized for poor performance and combat.
These issues challenge the game’s success commercially. A report from the analysts added that the game only sold 2 million copies, three million behind Krafton’s sales expectations. The studio also laid off more than 30 employees a few months back describing it as a step to realign its priorities and better position itself for the success of its projects.
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This announcement of Glen Schofield leaving the studio comes at a hard time when it looks to recover from its flagship flop. The Krafton representative stated that the “studio’s plans remain unaffected” and it would be interesting to see what the studio has in plan for the future.
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