Almost a year on from the launch of The Callisto Protocol, developer Striking Distance Studios has seen an exodus of its most senior talent. Headlining the departures is studio founder and game director Glen Schofield, who created the studio with the intention of making a spiritual successor to his smash hit 2009 game Dead Space (which itself received a full remake earlier this year).
The news emerged today via Bloomberg, which included a statement from Schofield calling his decision to leave “bittersweet,” while adding that the team “is in excellent hands.” Steve Papoutsis, who worked with Schofield on Dead Space and oversaw that franchise until 2015 will take over the now-vacant chief executive officer position, switching from his current role as chief development officer. Meanwhile, the studio’s chief financial officer and chief operating officer have also made the decision to depart, meaning that a whole new management team will have to step in.
Despite this significant shake-up, a Krafton representative told Bloomberg that the “studio’s plans remain unaffected.” Whatever that future is, it seems increasingly unlikely that it will involve The Callisto Protocol. An expansion to cap the story launched back in June, and no further word has since emerged from the studio. Plus, the game was originally envisioned as a far-future spin-off to the PUBG: Battlegrounds franchise, but later evolved into its own thing, so perhaps the studio will return to that original idea.
While all of these departures are said to be voluntary, they come as relatively little surprise, given the critical and commercial reception that The Callisto Protocol earned. It received generally middling reviews, with particular criticisms leveled at technical issues, the slow pace of some gameplay-relevant animations, and unintuitive combat mechanics. The game was also roundly criticized for what some saw as a ridiculous pricing strategy for some of its post-launch content. At the same time, it fell far short of the sales expectations of publisher Krafton.
