Ed Nightingale
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Krafton, the publisher of survival horror game The Callisto Protocol, forced developer Striking Distance to release the game early.
That’s according to the game’s director Glen Schofield, in an interview with Dan Allen Gaming (thanks PCGamesN) in which he discusses problems during the game’s development.
Krafton, known for publishing PUBG, insisted the game release three months earlier than Schofield wanted. As a result, two and a half bosses and three or four enemy types were cut from the game.
Schofield discussed a positive relationship with Krafton at first, but it seems that gradually deteriorated.
“I wanted about three and a half more months,” said Schofield. “I was led to believe that that was the way it was going to be. In October or September ’21, 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.'”
He continued: “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.”
Production of The Callisto Protocol was also heavily impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, with 10 to 20 people a month getting sick for long periods of time. On top of that, 49 people resigned from the team in 2021. “We were devastated,” said Schofield. “’21 was the worst year of development of my life.”
While Schofield doesn’t give a clear reason for Krafton’s demands, it may have perhaps been due to the impending release of EA’s Dead Space remake that was released in January 2023, a month after Callisto Protocol.
As Schofield created the Dead Space series, the two games were in direct competition. Indeed, he admitted in the interview some of his ideas for Dead Space transferred over, including the prison setting.
The Callisto Protocol reportedly failed to hit sales targets, which caused Krafton’s share prices to fall. Developer Striking Distance then laid off 32 employees in August last year – a month later, Schofield left the studio “to pursue new opportunities”.