"A Creative Idea Can Save More Money Than AI Can Right Now" – Glen Schofield On His Retirement, Callisto Protocol's Development, And The State Of AAA

Industry veteran Glen Schofield, who announced his retirement from the video game industry during the summer, has reflected on his extensive career and his final project, the 2022 sci-fi survival horror game The Callisto Protocol. Schofield, whose past leadership roles include heading Sledgehammer Games and holding prominent positions at Visceral Games and Crystal Dynamics, finished his career leading Striking Distance Studios under South Korean publisher Krafton. Now focusing on painting and sculpting, Schofield remains open to future game development but expressed strong reservations about the current state of the industry.

The development of The Callisto Protocol was heavily disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which hit about six months into the project. Schofield described the transition to remote work as a major obstacle, noting that he struggled with the lack of in-person interaction. He explained that managing a remote team of a hundred people required endless individual calls and Zoom meetings, which he felt lacked the collaborative benefits of a physical studio environment where younger developers can easily seek daily advice and advance their careers.

According to Schofield, the biggest blow to the project was Krafton's decision to force an early release in December 2022, cutting short a promised March 2023 launch window that was meant to compensate for pandemic-related delays. The disruption from COVID-19 was severe, with staff members regularly falling ill and entire teams, such as a rendering unit in Spain, temporarily shutting down. Because of these challenges and the forced release date, the developers had to scale back their original vision, cutting several bosses, levels, and enemy types from the final game.

Additional complications arose because Krafton lacked the infrastructure to publish and market a physical, single-player game, forcing Striking Distance Studios to build those departments internally. The publisher also mandated that the game be released on both PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4, an requirement that Schofield said cost an extra $20 million and required shipping development kits to 200 employees during a global computer chip shortage. Following a launch that met with mixed reviews and fell short of Krafton's expectations, Schofield and his team spent months releasing 86 patches and completing downloadable content to address the game's issues.

Before his departure from Striking Distance in 2023, Schofield had pitched a sequel to The Callisto Protocol, though Krafton declined the project due to the original's commercial performance. The proposed sequel would have expanded the scale of the story from a localized outbreak to a widespread plague. It was set to take place on a massive space station that served as a junkyard for docked spacecraft accumulated over hundreds of years, incorporating various ideas and designs that had been cut from the first game.

Looking at the broader industry, Schofield noted that a major chapter is closing, pointing to the acquisitions of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft and Electronic Arts by a Saudi-led consortium. He expressed concern that financial interests have marginalized creative leaders, arguing that major publishers need to give creatives a seat at the table again. Schofield also lamented the ballooning budgets of modern blockbusters, stating he would love to return to making games with tighter, more cohesive teams on a budget of around $70 million, rather than the $150 million typical of today's major releases.

To achieve these lower budgets, Schofield advocates for creative resourcefulness over a reliance on artificial intelligence. He suggested that a highly creative approach to reusing assets from older games, integrated directly into a game's narrative, could save an estimated $25 million on a project. While he does not view AI as a simple tool, he embraces it as a creative medium alongside painting and digital art, suggesting that developers should target AI usage toward specific, practical areas like improving camera systems and fixing collision issues.