Dead Space co-creator departs studio after spiritual successor bombs
The Callisto Protocol received mixed reviews when it released last year.
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Despite being the founder of the company, Glen Schofield is leaving The Callisto Protocol developer Striking Distance Studios.
Schofield is probably best known for being the creator of the Dead Space series, but last year saw his return to the horror genre with The Callisto Protocol. Now, as reported by Bloomberg, Schofield, who was the CEO and founder of Striking Distance, has been confirmed to be leaving the studio. Striking Distance is a subsidiary of Korean publisher Krafton, with a representative of the company saying that Schofield has "decided to pursue new opportunities." Chief operating officer Stacey Hirata and chief financial officer Johnny Hsu are also leaving Striking distance, with Krafton also saying that all three are departing voluntarily.
"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," Schofield wrote in a press release. "While pursuing a new adventure is exciting, leaving SDS is bittersweet, but I know the studio is in excellent hands. Steve and I go way back to working at Visceral Games. I saw how successful he was in taking the reins after my departure then and how he continued the studio's success and growth. That's how I know he's the one to lead the studio into its next chapter."
Steve Papoutsis is set to replace Schofield as CEO, a fitting replacement as someone that worked on all of the original Dead Space games.
Earlier this year it was reported that The Callisto Protocol hadn't hit sales expectations, which were apparently around five million units. At the time the game had sold around two million units, a far cry from what was hoped from it, and a troubling number considering the games reported £132 million budget.
In August it was also reported that Striking Distance had suffered from layoffs impacting 32 employees.