The Callisto Protocol Director Glen Schofield Leaves Studio, Steve Papoutsis Named CEO

gameinformer.com:

Glen Schofield, founder of Striking Distance Studios and director of its first game, The Callisto Protocol, has announced he is departing the company. Schofield is perhaps best known as the co-creator of the Dead Space franchise and the co-founder of Call of Duty developer Sledgehammer Games. Steve Papoutsis, who previously served as chief development officer and general manager for Striking Distance Studios, has been appointed as the new CEO.

Schofield has been active in the games industry since the early 1990s, working at companies like THQ, Crystal Dynamics, and Eidos Interactive. In 2008, Schofield became known for his co-creation of the Dead Space franchise, which many point to as one of the best sci-fi-horror games of the decade. Shortly after Dead Space's success, Schofield left Electronic Arts and Visceral Games to co-found Sledgehammer Games, which worked on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, and Call of Duty: WWII under his supervision. In 2019, following a break from active development, Schofield founded Striking Distance Studios and began work on the game that would become The Callisto Protocol. Schofield acted as director on that game, which served as a spiritual successor to the original Dead Space.

Unfortunately, upon release, The Callisto Protocol fell short of expectations, earning a 69 out of 100 on review aggregate site Metacritic (including a 6 out of 10 from Game Informer)and falling several million copies shy of publisher Krafton's sales projections. In the same timeframe as The Callisto Protocol's release, Electronic Arts and Motive Studio released a remake of the original Dead Space to critical acclaim. Last month, Striking Distance Studios suffered layoffs, letting go