The developer Glen Schofield believes he knows why one of his horror shooters was released so unfinished. The blame seems to lie with the publisher Krafton.
Which developer and which game are we talking about? The creator of Dead Space, Glen Schofield, is also the director of the spiritual successor The Callisto Protocol. While the Dead Space series enjoys a legendary status, with the first part even receiving an elaborate remake, The Callisto Protocol is considered more or less a failure.
The Callisto Protocol came from the developer studio Striking Distance Studio, where Glen Schofield worked together with Steve Papoutsis. Two big names in the gaming industry, which raised the expectations for the game.
However, the game could not meet those expectations as it was released in December 2022 in quite an unfinished state. It was plagued by technical issues that led to frequent crashes. The rather short playtime was also criticized, and the game achieved a Metacritic score of only 68 out of 100.
“I don’t like it when politics gets in the way”
According to Glen Schofield, what was the reason for this? As Schofield stated in an interview with The Game Business, the unfinished state is to be blamed on the publishers. His superiors at the Korean publisher Krafton reportedly pressured him to release The Callisto Protocol in December 2022, as it was a better time for shareholders.
This is something he regrets, says Glen Schofield. If he could improve one thing about The Callisto Protocol, it would be that. In the interview, he states: “I don’t like it when politics gets in the way, as was the case with Krafton. There was no doubt about it. They told me that the game had to come out in December due to the Korean stock market. I should have just finished it right away. I’m angry at myself for that.”
According to Schofield, The Callisto Protocol sold between 6 and 7 million copies, which is very good for a studio’s debut title. However, they did not meet Krafton’s expectations for the game’s sales and success, the developer stated.
The Callisto Protocol slowly improved after the rather negative release. Although the horror shooter does not come close to the success of the Dead Space series, it has managed to raise its rating on Steam to “positive”. You can read more about it here on MeinMMO: Big horror shooter hope fails at release on Steam, steadily improves, now stands at “positive”.
