Striking Distance Studios will be naming new management following confirmation that Glen Schofield will leave the company. A representative for Krafton Inc, the Korean publisher and parent company of Striking Distance, confirmed yesterday (September 20) that Schofield had stepped down and “decided to pursue new opportunities.”
Following a story from Bloomberg, it is reported the chief operating officer and chief financial officer with Striking Distance will also depart the company. Their exits were described as ‘voluntary’ in the report. In a statement, Schofield said parting ways with Striking Distance was “bittersweet, but I know the studio is in excellent hands.”
Striking Distance was founded by Schofield in 2019. The objective behind the studio was to create a successor to the Dead Space franchise, initially developed by Schofield during his tenure with Electronic Arts Inc. Last year, the studio released The Callisto Protocol, and The Final Transmission DLC. The title received a lukewarm reception shortly before the arrival of the recent Dead Space remake.
The Callisto Protocol was projected to sell 5 million copies, courtesy of an analysis report by m.korean-vibe.com. In reality, the horror title fell short of halfway at 2 million copies.
It was later revealed a “cumulative sales estimate” had dropped from “4 million to 2.1 million” while the “operating profit estimate” for 2022 fell from “813 billion won to 629.3 billion won.”
On top of mixed-to-negative reviews, the report highlights a “significant amount of money” spent on developing The Callisto Protocol, deemed a “problem” for the publisher. Most recently, Striking Distance laid off 32 employees following “strategic changes” to the studio.
In GameLuster’s review for The Callisto Protocol, Jess writes that the horror title “utterly oozes in atmosphere. Its visual and sound design is top notch and it’s such a shame that this beauty is wasted on such an unimpressive game.”
