Glen Schofield, creator of 'Dead Space', opened up in detail about the conflicts he experienced with parent company Krafton while developing 'The Callisto Protocol'. He claimed that while he was promised a March 2023 release, Krafton decided to launch the game in December 2022—at a time when the development team was reeling from the impact of COVID-19.
Schofield revealed this in a recent interview with global gaming industry news outlet GamesIndustry.biz. In July of this year, he announced his retirement from the video game industry.
The development period of The Callisto Protocol overlapped with the COVID-19 pandemic. Schofield noted, "We had to change everything, learning on the fly," adding, "In the end, we made it, and we also saw the problems we faced. A lot of them were caused by Korean management."
The transition to remote work was particularly difficult for him. Schofield recalled, "In a 100-person studio, you can see all 100 people in a day," adding, "When everyone was at home, I had to call them individually or gather them on Zoom. There were so many meetings."
While describing himself as both a creative leader and a business leader, he stated, "That doesn't mean I want to do business operations or build every single schedule. I hate doing that," adding, "If they just set the direction, I will provide the creative leadership I need to."
"We were forced to release... right in the middle of damn COVID"
Schofield pointed to Krafton's release date decision as the single biggest blow. According to his account, the release window originally promised was March 2023, and those extra few months were meant to compensate for development delays caused by COVID-19.
However, Krafton decided to push the release date up several months to December 2022.
Schofield said, "We were forced to release it. I was definitely angry with myself as well," adding, "I was really shocked that such a decision was made right in the middle of damn COVID."
At the time, the studio suffered severely from the spread of infections. Schofield recalled, "A million people died in the U.S., and I lost one of my best friends," adding, "Every month, four to six employees contracted the virus." At one point, a small team in Spain had to halt work, resulting in the temporary loss of rendering personnel as a consequence.
He added, "What I cared about most was the health of the team members. Game development took a back seat. This was a matter of life and human beings."
As COVID-19 infections repeatedly pulled whole teams away from work, the original vision for The Callisto Protocol was scaled back. Some bosses and levels were cut, and one or two enemy types were removed.
The Callisto Protocol launched simultaneously worldwide on December 2, 2022, across consoles including PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S, as well as PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. The December 2 release date had already been made public around June 2022.
Besides the release schedule, other factors compounded the development burden. Schofield shared that because Krafton lacked a publishing and marketing organization for single-player packaged games at the time, Striking Distance Studios (SDS) had to build those functions internally.
The mandate to release on PS4 in addition to PS5 was another heavy burden. Schofield described this as costing "an extra $20 million". This was further complicated by the challenge of shipping development kits to 200 employees during an ongoing global semiconductor shortage.
"They viewed Callisto as a complete failure"
The Callisto Protocol launched to mixed reviews and fell short of Krafton's expectations. Schofield said, "They viewed Callisto as a complete failure," adding, "They didn't realize that while they were complaining, we were fixing it with patches".
He noted that he stayed until finishing all DLC and deploying 86 patches. Schofield explained, "It was a fucking lot of work," adding, "Every day I came into work fixing things. Some were small, some were fucking huge. It was all to get the game back to where it needed to be."
Expectations prior to launch were high. In June 2022, Eugene Investment & Securities estimated sales of The Callisto Protocol at 1 million copies in Q4 of that year and a cumulative 5 million copies through 2023. Post-launch reports indicated sales reached only 2 million copies. Furthermore, the competitive landscape turned unfavorable when EA's 'Dead Space' remake was released about a month later to critical acclaim.
The interview also confirmed that a sequel to The Callisto Protocol had been pitched. Krafton showed no interest after seeing the performance of the first game.
The planned sequel was larger in scale than its predecessor. Schofield explained that while the first game covered an outbreak, the sequel was planned to deal with a plague. The setting was a space station that had become a massive scrap heap after centuries of ships docking there. Schofield said, "We had done a lot of art, and some of the things that didn't make it into the first game were going to be in this one."
SDS subsequently underwent downsizing. Following the release of the final DLC in August 2023, 32 employees were laid off, and a month later in September, Schofield departed the company alongside the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
Krafton stated that all three resignations were voluntary. The studio leadership role was taken over by Chief Development Officer Steve Papoutsis, who co-created 'Dead Space' alongside Schofield.
A second round of layoffs occurred in 2025. At the time, former employees claimed that most developers were laid off, while Krafton stated that although the team size was reduced, the studio would remain operational.
The retired Schofield also addressed the issue of ballooning development costs for blockbuster games. He diagnosed that players' current apathy toward AAA games boils down to budgets. Schofield said, "'Dead Space' cost $28 million to make," adding, "I'd be so happy if I could make a game for under $150 million. I would love to go back and make something like a $70 million game again".
His latest comments contrast sharply with his official departure statement at the time, which expressed "bittersweet" feelings. The studio founded by Krafton in 2019 to create a narrative-driven game based on the PUBG universe clashed with headquarters over scheduling and resource allocation right from the development of its debut title—a claim now coming directly from its founder. Krafton was also involved in a legal dispute with the former management of Unknown Worlds, a studio it subsequently acquired, before settling the matter in July of this year.
