Glen Schofield is leaving Striking Distance Studios to “pursue new opportunities.”
As reported by Bloomberg, Schofield left the studio voluntarily alongside chief operating officer Stacey Hirata and chief financial officer Johnny Hsu.
Chief development officer Steve Papoutsis has been appointed as the new CEO. Papoutsis previously worked with Schofield at Visceral Games.
Schofield joined parent company Krafton in 2019 to launch Striking Distance Studios. There, he created The Callisto Protocol, a spiritual successor to the original Dead Space, which he co-created while working at Electronic Arts’ Visceral Games studio from 2002 to 2009.
The Callisto Protocol experienced a low sales performance following its launch in December 2022. Krafton predicted the title would sell five million copies, but analysts predicted that it’d sell closer to two million.
“Creating Striking Distance Studios has been an incredible journey and I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved with The Callisto Protocol, a game close to my heart,” said Schofield.
He continued: “While pursuing a new adventure is exciting, leaving SDS is bittersweet, but I know the studio is in excellent hands. Steve and I go way back to working at Visceral Games. I saw how successful he was in taking the reins after my departure then and how he continued the studio’s success and growth. That’s how I know he’s the one to lead the studio into its next chapter.”
Schofield added that the “studio’s plans remain unaffected” following his departure, “and its focus is to continue producing exceptional content.”
A representative for the Korean-based company added: “Glen’s contributions during his time at Krafton have been invaluable. He built an ace team of talents at SDS and set a high standard for the work they did together every day. We’re confident in the team’s continued success because of the significant impact Glen has had, and for that we owe him our deepest gratitude.”
Last month, Striking Distance Studios laid off 32 employees. This decision was attributed to the realignment of business operations.
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