The Callisto Protocol director talks cut content and being pushed to launch game early

Players who enjoyed working through The Callisto Protocol achievements might be disheartened to know that vague plans were already being formed for a sequel by former Striking Distance CEO Glen Schofield. The developer revealed the news during a recent interview when discussing Striking Distance being forced to ship The Callisto Protocol early. The premature release seemingly led to bosses and other content being cut from the Xbox horror game.Bosses and new enemy variants were cut from The Callisto ProtocolStriking Distance Studios had a rough time when launching The Callisto Protocol in 2022, where it was met with middling reviews, reportedly falling drastically short of publisher Krafton’s sales target of five million copies. It came as a surprise for many fans of Striking Distance’s former CEO and co-founder Glen Schofield’s work as co-creator of the fantastic Dead Space. Now, over a year after the game launched, Schofield explains that Striking Distance was forced to ship the game early by the publisher.Speaking with Dan Allen Gaming, Schofield says that when co-founding Striking Distance Studios in 2019, he was looking for a publisher for his upcoming horror game when a friend told him that the “PUBG guys” (Krafton) wanted to speak to him. The developer says that they “hit it off really quickly” and that “all of the right things were said at the time,” but four years later, “You know, not all the same things are always said — by me as well probably.” While Schofield enjoyed working with Krafton for the first couple of years, the developer says that things took a turn during the last year. “I wanted about three and a half more months,” Schofield said. “I was led to believe that that was the way it was going to be. In October or September 2021, I was told, ‘You’re going to get the time. Put whatever you want into the game.’ So I spent that Christmas holiday just designing and coming up with ideas with some of the guys. And then January comes around, and some of the [Krafton] folks come over, and they just said, ‘no, no, no, it’s December 2022.’“It’s not like it costs you less money because you’re getting it out three months sooner, because if I’d just kept it on the way it was going, I wouldn’t have to add anybody. But if you want it done, that means I’ve got to accelerate everything by three and a half months, which means I need to jam people on here.”Schofield also says that development on The Callisto Protocol was hit pretty hard during the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw a “mass resignation” in 2021. “Ten to 20 people a month were getting sick, and they were getting sick for weeks,” Schofield said. “We were devastated. Sometimes our whole department for VFX would be out, our whole animation department. And then on top of that, in ‘21, we had the great resignation. 49 people quit, because everybody’s paying through the roof, and so people are leaving for $10,000 more. 2021 was the worst year of development of my life.”Between the staffing issues caused by the pandemic and Krafton pushing for the game to be released, Schofield says two enemy variants and four bosses were cut from the game. The developer even had plans for a sequel, in which players would be introduced to a new protagonist who would be killed off halfway through the game and we’d step back into the shoes of the first game’s Jacob Lee. When reflecting on the situation and what he could have done differently, Schofield says, “I would have put my foot down.” I’m not shipping it. ‘If you want the game to ship, you come and take over the studio.’”If you fancy trying out The Callisto Protocol for yourself, it’s currently available in Xbox Game Pass — for those of you who have already played it, take a peek at our list of the best Xbox Game Pass games for some other great experiences.



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