Nearly 2 years after leaving Striking Distance after its disappointing first release, The Callisto Protocol, game director Glen Schofield revealed it may have been his last game to lead.
In a new post over on Linkedin, the Dead Space creator admitted “it’s tough out there” after numerous games industry cuts, waves of layoffs, and budgeting getting tighter across the board.
Since his departure from AAA game development, Schofield revealed he’d been working on a new game prototype with his daughter, who also worked on Callisto Protocol, and was trying to raise funding for the game,
Schofield and his daughter were working on the new horror game with a team of six developers in the USA and a “full crew” in the United Kingdom, though they apparently never got enough proposed funding.
“We pulled the budget down to $17 million, built a prototype with a small, talented crew, and started taking meetings,” Schofield said. “People loved the concept. We got a lot of 2nd and 3rd meetings. But early feedback was ‘get it to $10M.’ Lately, that number’s dropped to $2–5M.”
Despite all the work and potential funding, Schofield and his team decided it wasn’t enough and they walked away from the project.
“Some ideas are better left untouched than done cheap,” he said. We had a team of six here in the States and a full crew in the UK. Now, everyone’s looking for work. They’re all talented folks—if you’re hiring, let me know.”
After walking away from that new prototype he made with his new team, Schofield admitted that maybe he’s directed his last game, and it’s time to pack it up.
“I’m back to my art. I miss it all; the team, the chaos, the joy of building something for fans. I’m still around, making art, writing stories and ideas and still cheering the industry on. But maybe I’ve directed my last game. Who knows? If so thank you playing my games,” Schofield said.
The Callisto Protocol has been available since 2022. In our review for the game, we found it to be divisive but perplexing, with a lot of care to make it more than just another horror shooter.
