Dead Space co-creator Glen Schofield calls current game industry 'tough' citing stressful fundraising stint

Glen Schofield, known for co-creating the Dead Space franchise and co-founding Sledgehammer Games, has indicated that his stint with the video games industry might be at a potential end after a respectable 34-year career in game development.

In a somewhat candid LinkedIn post on July 28, 2025, Schofield revealed some of the challenges he faced while attempting to secure funding for a new horror project and the competitive nature of the current AAA gaming industry. He stated:

“Game industry, it’s tough out there. Over the past eight months, I’ve been quietly working with my daughter, Nicole, on a new game idea. She came to me with it, and I immediately loved the idea. Something I hadn’t seen before. We’ve been calling it a new sub-genre of horror–not just horror, but something more.”

The project was budgeted at $17 million with ongoing development by a small U.S. team of six staff members and a larger U.K. crew. After going through the rounds, publishers highlighted the need to pull the budget down to a smaller $10 million cap, which further dropped to a mere $2–5 million as discussions continued.

Schofield further explained his decision to walk alway as a result:

“So, last month, we decided to walk away. Some new ideas are better left untouched than done cheaply. We had a team of six in the States and a full crew in the UK. Now, everyone’s looking for work. They’re all talented folks - if you’re hiring, let me know.”

Schofield's departure comes after releasing The Callisto Protocol in 2022, which he directed at Striking Distance Studios, founded in 2019. The game went through rounds of narrative shifts with initial ideas revolving around the PUBG universe, later pivoting to a standalone sci-fi horror title.

Unfortunately, the game received a mixed reception, receiving 69/100 on Metacritic due to bugs and performance issues. According to SteamDB, The Callisto Protocol sold 2 million copies and peaked at 17,580 concurrent players.

This was considerably below publisher Krafton’s 5 million sales quota. Amid a lack of commercial success, Schofield voluntarily stepped away from Striking Distance in September 2023, with Steve Papoutsis taking over as CEO of the company.

With Schofield stating that the AAA industry is currently “on pause,” he has returned to art and writing, but is still open to future possibilities, citing: “Who knows? If so, thank you for playing my games.”