“I was forced to ship the game” - Glen Schofield blames Krafton management for The Callisto Protocol’s problems

Glen Schofield, co-creator of Dead Space, has publicly blamed Korean publisher Krafton for The Callisto Protocol’s subpar release state. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Schofield claimed he was “forced to ship the game” after Krafton reneged on a promise to provide three additional months of development time.

The decision came during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Schofield’s Striking Distance Studios faced significant staffing challenges. Team members were frequently falling ill, and the small Spanish office experienced periods of complete shutdown as illness spread through the facility. Schofield expressed frustration that development took a backseat to health and safety concerns during this crisis period.

Schofield acknowledged his own responsibility for the game’s shortcomings, stating he was “mad at myself,” but expressed bewilderment at Krafton’s decision to pull the promised extension. He characterized the situation as particularly frustrating given the unprecedented circumstances the studio was navigating. The decision to ship ahead of schedule resulted in The Callisto Protocol launching with technical and quality issues that Schofield attributes directly to the compressed timeline.

The interview offers rare insight into the behind-the-scenes pressures that developers face from publishers, particularly when external crises intersect with business timelines.

Sources

• “I was forced to ship the game” - Glen Schofield blames Krafton management for The Callisto Protocol’s problems
• Dead Space creator says he was ‘forced to ship’ The Callisto Protocol by Krafton: ‘We had f*cking Covid’
• “They thought Callisto was a complete failure”: Glen Schofield blames publishers Krafton for The Callisto Protocol’s crash landing